Sri Lanka Women’s captain Erandi Liyanage and Praveena Perera scored 2nd half goals as Sri Lanka bounced back from the loss against Maldives to defeat Bhutan 2-0 in the 4th SAFF Women’s Championship in Siliguri, India.

Sri Lanka crashed to a shock 5-2 defeat in the opening match against Maldives, after being on a 3-0 winning position a little over a year ago. Nepal crushed Bhutan 8-0 two day ago.

Pressure was on Sri Lanka as they had to win to have any chance of making it to the semi-finals.

Maldives, Nepal crush Sri Lanka and Bhutan

Sri Lanka v Maldives Maldives Women’s national team captain Fadhuwa Zahir scored a hat-trick against Sri Lanka to beat them by 5-2.

Sri Lanka dominated play in the first half but was unable to penetrate the resolute Bhutan defence as it ended 0-0 at half time.

Half time – Sri Lanka 0 – 0 Bhutan

Sri Lanka did the same in the second half and it was the captain Erandi Liyanage who came to the rescue on the hour mark to give a 1-0 lead to islanders.

It was a wonderful goal where Erandi cut through the defence and lofted the ball over the Bhutanese goalkeeper to score.

In the 77th minute Praveena Perera doubled the lead but Sri Lanka was unable to add more which would be a concern when deciding a semi-final spot.

Sri Lanka women defeated Bhutan 4-0 in 2012 & 3-0 in 2014 SAFF Women’s Championships.

Full time – Sri Lanka 2 – 0 Bhutan