Bangladesh once again surrendered an early first half lead ind in the end were fortunate to escape with a 1-1 against hosts Maldives in their second match jf the four-nation Golden Ju-ailee International Football rournament held at the National Stadium in Male yester-iay.

Midfielder Zulfikar Mah-nud Mintu scored his second ’oal of the tournament to give 3angladesh a surprising lead against the run of play as early is in the seventh minute. However. a rejuvenated Maldives, supported by the packed partisan crowd, made a brilliant tome back in the second session ind levelled the margin in the 77th minute when substitute brahim Fazeel found the net vlth a power-packed left footer.

The outcome df yeSferday^s natch left both Bangladesh and Maldives atop the four-nation able with each having two points each. India and Sri Lanka. who will face each other today, have one point apiece.

Bangladesh, who were held io an identical draw by India in iheir previous match on Tues-lay, were under pressure from :he speedy Maldivian booters from the verv beginning. How-

ever a quick build-up from the Jeft by Bangladesh saw Kan-chan deliver a teasing cross in the Maldives D and the fleet-footed Montu directed the ball into the net.

Despite the goal, Bangladesh were unable to create pressure.

Maldives, on the other hand, aegan to create chance after chance to equalise but could not areak the deadlock before the area t her.

Undaunted, the home side :ame out with all guns blazing n the second half and had al-nost half a dozen clear cut op-portunities inside the first 15

minutes.

Their enterprise finally paid off when Fazeel. who scored within five minutes after coming on to replace Shah Ismail, defeated Aminul with a powerful left foot shot capitalising on a minus from the right side.

Bangladesh had half a chance to go In front again during the closing stages but Iqbal’s placing header from the corner was magnificently gripped by Maldives goalie Imran Mohammad.

Bangladesh striker Mintu will miss the next match against Sri Lanka on Sunday after he received his second yellow card yesterday. Besides. Bangladesh defender Faisal and Maldives booter Mohammad Hussain were also shown the yellow by referee Subash Lazar.

TEAMS

BANGLADESH: Aminul Sourav Raju. Rajani. Faisal. . Maitur Munna (Don). Anwar. Iqbal. Mintu. Monwar. Khanchan and Moni.

MALDIVES: Imran Mohammad. Ibrahim. Luteef. Nizam. Shah Ismail (Ibrahim Fazeel). Ali Umar. Adam Lath-eef. Hussain. Ashraf. Ghafoor and Ali Shiham.