Goalless draw at empty BNS

The Bangabandhu Gold Cup produced its first goalless draw yesterday as the six-nation tournament moved to the Bangabandhu National Stadium in Dhaka. Rank outsiders Singapore U-23 team held pretournament favourites Bahrain U-23 team in a match, which was marked by plenty of action, missed chances, goalkeeping howlers, goalline clearances and flailing tempers. However, the important thing missing was a goal. But there weren't too many people in attendance to lament that either.

Bahrain had come into the tournament on the back of a fifth-place finish in the U-23 Gulf Cup but were still expected to roll over Singapore, who were beaten 3-2 by Thailand in Group B's opening fixture on Friday. However, Bahrain did not create enough clear-cut openings, especially in the first half, despite enjoying lion's share of possession.

At the other end, Taufik Suparno was the target of all Singapore's attacks, but the skilful striker wasn't quite wearing his shooting boots yesterday.

Singapore goalie M Z bin Rohizad made two awful blunders in the second half, but his defenders rushed in with goalline to spare the keeper's blushes. Rohizad however later made an excellent block to keep his side in the tournament.

 The result leaves the Gulf nation with having to do it all over again in their last group match against table-toppers Thailand tomorrow while Singapore will be praying for a big win for the Thais so that they can join them in the last four.