Nepal lost to Bangladesh 1-0 in their friendly match at the Bangabandhu National Stadium in Dhaka on Thursday.

In a match that served as a warm-up to both teams for the December 23 to January 3 Saff Championship to be hosted by India, an 18th minute goal from Shakawat Rony was enough for the hosts to get the better of the visitors. Nepali team left for Bangladesh having left out senior and experienced players for the Saff Championship and the goal margin didn’t irk new coach Patrick Aussems. “I am happy with the game. They are training very well. The result did not go our way but today it was about the performance and my boys expressed themselves well,” said Aussems.

In his first assignment as Nepal coach, Aussems began with an experimental lineup playing second choice custodian Bikesh Kuthu and fielding Aditya Chaudhary and Jitendra Karki in defense, Heman Gurung in midfield and Nabin Lama in the forward line. Gurung and Lama were making debut for the national team.

Despite fielding an inexperienced squad, Nepal were able to trouble the Bangladesh defense before the hosts struck against the run of play. Rony scored in the 18th minute after Nepali defenders failed to read a cross allowing the scorer to head home.

Aussems made four changes in the second half replacing Kuthu with Kiran Chemjong, Lama with Bimal Gharti Magar, Gurung with Nawayug Shrestha and Bishal Rai with Rohit Chand. Nepal had a solid chance to level the scores but Chand’s powerful header on a corner from Jagjeet Shrestha hit the woodwork in the 74th minute.

Nepal will undergo closed-camp training in Bangladesh before heading directly to Trivandrum for their Saff Championship campaign. Nepal are lined up against hosts India and Sri Lanka in Group ‘A’ of the tournament.

n Heman Gurung of Nepal vies for the ball with a Bangladeshi player during their friendly football match in Dhaka on Thursday.