Kyrgyzstan win to finish third

Sri Lanka were aware of the end their Nehru Cup campaign had come to,with the AIFF announcing India as the finalists against Syria early on Friday....

Sri Lanka were aware of the end their Nehru Cup campaign had come to,with the AIFF announcing India as the finalists against Syria early on Friday. In the evening,the pride they were left to play for was dented by an upbeat Kyrgyzstan team who thrashed the islanders 4-1.

Attacking all through,Kyrgyz coach Ormoombekov Anarbek sent Pavel Sidorenko,Anton Zemlianuhin,Sergey Kaleutin and Mirlan Murzaev up and Anton responded in the 33rd minute,meeting skipper Harchenko Vadims cross.

They doubled the lead in added time of the first half with a solo effort from Ildar Amirov,who latched onto a through ball.

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Sri Lankas premier strikers EB Channa and M Issadeen failed to weave the magic they had tied Lebanon with.

Their skipper Chatura Maduranga couldnt come up from his regular holding-midfielder position because of the forays by Kyrgyzstan for most of the match. And when he didin the 53rd minutehis team reduced the margin,through a stunning header over Kyrgyz goalkeeper Pavel Matish.

But Kyrgyzstan thwarted all possibilities of a Lankan comeback with two more goals. Mirlan added to the tally by an intelligent move inside the Lanka box in the 65th minute while Rustem Usanov scoring the fourth with a header five minutes later.

Lanka assistant coach Sumit Walpole wasnt happy with the finish. We began with a bang against Lebanon,but the morale went down with the losses.