Puja hits brace in 5-0 win against Sri Lanka

Bangladesh brushed aside Sri Lanka 5-0 in their penultimate match of the SAFF U-20 Women's Championship on Saturday, maintaining 100 percent record in the four-team competition.

Puja Das scored a brace while Kanon Rani Bahadur, Trishna Rani Sarkar and Afeida Khandaker scored one apiece in this comfortable, albeit a bit laboured victory for Peter Butler's charges at the Bashundhara Sports Ground.

The win kept the hosts top of the table with 15 points from five matches, three more than Nepal, who earlier in the day, thrashed Bhutan 8-0.

Nepal, who had lost 3-2 against Bangladesh in the first meeting between the two sides in this double round-robin format tournament, have 12 points from five outings. Bhutan have three points while Sri Lanka are yet to open their account.

The day's results mean Bangladesh will retain the title with a victory or a draw against Nepal in the last match of the competition on Monday.

Bangladesh coach Butler had opted to keep some of his key players at the bench in this contest, resulting in a rather lacklustre performance from the hosts.

Kanon broke the deadlock in the 25th minute before Puja doubled Bangladesh's lead in the stoppage time of the first half.

Butler brought on four of his key players at the start of the second half, and his side made more impression going forward but missed a few scoring chances. However, Puja's second goal in the 73rd minute, followed by Trishna's 86th-minute strike and a stoppage-time spot-kick from Afeida made sure Bangladesh secured a big victory.