Bashundhara Kings coach Oscar Bruzon had expressed his concerns about the refereeing during the pre-match briefing, citing their previous experience with the competition, and his apprehension was realised when a 10-man Bashundhara Kings were defeated 1-0 by hosts Odisha FC in the Group D final match on Monday at Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar.

The defeat meant that the Bangladesh Premier League champions once again returned empty-handed despite coming so close to entering the inter-zonal play-off semifinals.

Needing a solitary point to emerge group champions, Kings were still unable to come out unscathed against debutant Odisha.

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Playing with a man down didn't help Bruzon's charges after Uzbek midfielder Asor Gafurov was given a matching order by Vietnam's referee Ngo Duy Lan following what appeared to be a yellow-card offence in the first-half stoppage time.

On Sunday, Oscar had said, "I want to mention about our past experience in this competition, not only at the club level but at the national level, we have been having problems. It is open to everybody that we have problems with the referees in previous editions.

"In the last two AFC Cups we are out due to the red cards. The national team in such a tournament [2021 SAFF Championship] were out due to a penalty. I am not using all this as an excuse. I am using all this to protect the integrity of the competition.

Back in the 2021 edition of the tournament, Kings had also played with one man short against ATK Mohun Bagan. Sushanta Tripura had seen the red card on that occasion, also sent off in the stoppage time of the first half. And Kings, who needed a win, surrendered their first-half lead to settle for a 1-1 draw, as their chance of emerging group champions and advancing to the knockout stage evaporated.

Bruzon made two changes to the squad that defeated Maziya S&RC, drafting captain Robson Da Silva and midfielder Charles Didier, while Odisha FC made one change, bringing in defender Serigne Fall, who scored the game-winning goal in the 66th minute with a powerful header off an Ahmed Jahouh corner.

Though Kings appeared hesitant at first in the face of intense pressure from the home side, they settled down as the match progressed.

Odisha's two attempts in the 10th and 17th minute were well negotiated by goalkeeper Mehedi Hasan Sraban while Rakib Hossain went close to breaking the deadlock in the 29th minute, but the winger drove straight to goalkeeper Aminder Singh in one-on-one situation.  

With Kings showing their character slowly, they suffered a big blow in the stoppage time of the first half as Gafurov was sent off following his tackle on Ahmed Jahouh from behind at the center-circle.

After resumption, Odisha mounted huge pressure and the match was almost played inside the Kings' half, with Diego Mauricio droving wide once and then struck straight to Srabon in the first five minutes of the second half.

Brazilian Dorielton Gomes squandered a nice opportunity to break the deadlock from a counter attack, driving miles off the target inside the box in the 60th minute.

Goalkeeper Srabon then thwarted an effort from Roy Krishna for a corner but the inexperienced goalkeeper failed to stop a powerful header from Serigne Fall, who silenced Kings in the 66th minute.

Kings tried to equalize, with Robson getting close in the 74th minute. The Brazilian forward, however, slipped inside the Odisha box and a good chance went begging.

The Kings captain was presented with a nice opportunity to level the margin at the stoppage time but Robson drove the free kick over the cross-piece outside the box. Eventually, Kings had to accept another unfruitful attempt in their fourth appearance in Asia's second-tier club competition.