Sk Jamal end with heavy defeat

Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club completed their debut AFC Cup campaign with a humiliating 5-0 defeat to Ceres La Salle FC at the Pana-ad Park and Football Stadium in Bacolod City, Philippines yesterday.

The three-time Bangladesh Premier League champions, who had confirmed their elimination from the group stages after suffering four successive defeats, finished the campaign with a single win and having conceded 19 goals in six outings.

The Dhanmondi giants had gone to Philippines with high hopes after winning their previous match against Tampines Rovers 3-2 at home last month, but had to surrender meekly to the Philippines outfit, thanks to a hattrick by Adrian Gallardo, who had also scored a brace against Sheikh Jamal in Dhaka in March.

Ceres La Salle, who emerged group champions with 12 points from six matches to move into the round of 16, took only eight minutes to open the scoring when Bienvenido Maranon put them ahead before Gallardo doubled the lead one minute later. The Spaniard completed his hattrick by scoring in the 58th and 65th minutes before Patrick Reichelt completed the rout in the 70th minute.      

In the other group match, Tampines Rovers beat Selangor FA 1-0 to seal the second qualifying spot from Group E.