Kyrgyzstan prevail over Cambodia 4-3 in Nehru Cup thriller

New Delhi, Aug 19 (UNI) Kyrgyzstan survived a scare before scoring a 4-3 victory over inexperienced Cambodia in a thrilling ONGC Nehru Cup round robin match here tonight.

The Central Asian nation dominated the first half hour and the second session in the match which saw fluctuating fortunes under floodlights.

But the sparse crowd at the Ambedkar Stadium was given their money's worth when the Cambodians scored three quick goals in the last 15 minutes of the first half to rattle their more fancied opponents who, though, recovered in the second session.

Kyrgyzstan used the height advantage to their favour and tormented the Cambodian defence time and again by effectively using high crosses from both flanks.

From one such cross from the right flank, full back Samsaliev Talant opened the account for Kyrgyzstan in the 12th minute with a spectacular shearing right footer from 25 meters, after the ball was deflected from the box.

Five minutes later (17th), another cross from the right by Bokoev Aibek was headed home by Mamatov Bakytbek and the inexperienced Cambodian side looked totally out of sorts till the half hour mark.

But suddenly, the complexion of the game changed with Cambodia scoring three goals in the space of 10 minutes.

First, in the 34th minute, Teab Vathanak was fouled just outside the box and Hok Sotitya, who was later named man-of-the-match, came up to fire a spectacular free kick from top of the 'D' with all the defenders and rival goalkeeper standing as mute spectators.

Six minutes later (40th), Chan Tithy restored parity firing home a left footer, after a free kick was deflected to his way. Chin Chum then made it 3-2 for Cambodia in the 43rd minute by heading home a corner deflected by team mate Teab Vathanak.

The sparse crowd present at the stadium was anticipating an upset, but it was not to be as the inexperience of the Cambodians came to the fore with the Central Asians dominating the second session in all departments of the game.

First minute after resumption Teab Vathanak missed a sitter but that was the last time the Cambodians had a real look at the Kyrgyzstan goal.

The Central Asians though equalised via a soft goal in the 48th minute largely due to sloppy defence by the Cambodians.

From a quick corner, striker Djamshidov Ruslan found himself unchallenged and stormed his way into the box before finding the net with a neat right footer.

Kyrgyzstan were denied two more goals later on, first Cambodia captain Pok Chan Than making a goaline save and second striker Ruslan missing a golden chance after he was one on one with the goalkeeper.

But from the resultant corner, Harchenko Vadim scored the fourth goal for Kyrgyzstan in the 65th minute, firing home from outside the box.

Hosts India play Bangladesh tomorrow at 1900 hrs IST.

UNI