Bangladesh's hopes of capitalizing on home advantage in their Asian Cup Play-Off Qualifiers were shattered as the home side were held to a goalless draw against Bhutan at the Bangabandhu National Stadium yesterday.

Bangladesh will now have to secure a win in their away match to be held in Male on October 10 if they want to progress to the 24-team Asian Cup Qualifiers in 2017.

Bangladesh coach Tom Saintfiet made drastic changes to the squad, dropping seven senior players including Mamunul Islam some 30 hours before the match, but the mixture of young and experienced players, especially striker Shakhawat Hossain Rony, frustrated the Belgian coach as well as some 3,000 spectators under floodlights.

A series of missed opportunities from Rony and substitute striker Nabib Newaj Jibon denied the home side a victory and put the booters in danger of a play-off stage exit.

Bangladesh perhaps started on the backfoot as Saintfiet's charges looked shaky from the get-go against Bhutan, a team who have never beat Bangladesh in their footballing history. A darting run from Chencho Gyeltshen was evidence of how shaky the backline -- marshalled by Raihan Hasan, Mamun Mia, Tapu Barman and Atiqur Rahman Meshu -- was, before Mamun Mia, arguably the best player on the pitch, denied Chencho inside the box.

With Bangladesh suffering from a lack of confidence, Bhutan looked determined to turn the table as they pressed high up the slippery pitch before the boys in red and green gradually grew in confidence with winger Rubel Mia threatening the visitors from the right flank time and again.

Rubel created a couple of good opportunities to break the deadlock, but Rony squandered two sitters. First, Rony tried to volley a Rubel cross but failed to give the home side a lead in the 16th minute as he lost his composure. The striker was a bit unfortunate as his close-range header from Rubel's cross was brilliantly saved by goalkeeper Hari Gurang in the 22nd minute.

Rony was again the culprit four minutes from the break, shooting straight at the goalkeeper after a poor clearance from Hari fell directly to his feet inside the danger zone. And the inclusion of striker Sohel Rana was questionable as the striker neither threatened the opponents nor defended deep.

After resumption, Saintfiet made three changes to pile the pressure on the opposition and it paid off, as the opponents looked unsettled in the second half. Yet, Bangladesh failed to break the deadlock. Instead, it was Bhutan who were on the verge of getting a goal. However, much to the relief of goalkeeper Ashraful Islam Rana, a curled shot from Tsherining Wangdi went narrowly wide of the far post, while Tapu slid in to deny the rapid Chenchen.

After Rony's dismal finishing, Jibon was provided two fine opportunities in the dying moments of the match, but the Abahani striker unbelievably squandered both chances before Rony added to his agony by spoiling the last chance, heading a Jibon cross over the bar.