LAHORE, Sept 21: Army staged a brilliant fight-back against Sri Lanka’s Ratnam Sports Club to draw the opening match of the AFC President’s Cup 3-3 at the Punjab Stadium on Thursday evening.

Ratnam’s first goal came in the 10th minute through striker Channa Ediri Bandage, who jumped and headed the corner off skipper Mohamed Rawme into the net.

Four minutes later, Rawme managed to double the lead. Channa’s fine work near the circle gave Rawme a fine pass and he didn’t waste a moment to find the net, leaving goalkeeper Jaffar Khan shocked.

In the 17th minute, Army reduced the lead to 2-1 through right fullback Umar Daraz, who cashed in on rival’s defensive blunder inside the danger area with a powerful angular drive to beat keeper Dammika Senarath Mananelduge.

In the 19th minute, Ratnam was again on the verge to score as Chathura Maduranga tested the goalkeeper with a 50-metre lob shot but the attempt was foiled by an agile Jaffar.

Army’s striker Imran Hussain missed a sitter in front of the goalpost in the 26th minute as the shot went wide off the left post.

It was only in the 43rd minute when Ratnam Club’s continuous efforts bore fruit. Kasun Jayasuriya converted the pass from Rawme into the goal and took the lead to 3-1.

Army achieved their second success when striker Faheem Riaz scored a field goal off a rebound in the injury time.

The soldiers went on to score an important goal in the 58th minute of the second half when midfielder Mohammad Shabbir found a gap in Ratnam’s defence and scored a spectacular goal with a 30-metre angular shot to make it three-all. Both the teams earned one point each.

Later, Tajikistan’s skipper Khurshed Makhmudov struck five goals for Regar TadAZ to outclass Transport United, Bhutan, 13-0.

The victory was by the biggest margin in the history of the AFC President’s Cup. The previous record had been created by Kyrgyzstan’s Dordoi-Dynamo when they defeated Sri Lanka’s Blue Star 8-1 in Nepal in 2005.

Strongly-built spearhead Khurshed scored the opener in the 18th minute. Ten minutes later, he doubled the lead and striker Abbos Abdullayev made it 3-0 in the 35th minute.

Two minutes later, defender Maruf Rustamov took the lead to 4-0.

Khurshed struck his third goal in the 45th minute as the winners led the first half 5-0.

Maruf Rustamov struck his second to make it 6-0 in the 54th minute and midfielder

Rahmonali Barotov created another goal for Khurshed in the 61st minute, taking the lead to 7-0.

The 63rd minute provided Regar TadAZ their eighth goal through Abbos Abdullaev. Three minutes later, it was 9-0 through Abdullo Umarbaev. Barotov was the executor in the 74th minute and two minutes later, Khurshed stunned the players with his fifth and the team’s eleventh goal.

Substitute defender Farkhodzon Kholbekov made it 12-0 in the 80th minute and Ibraguim Rabimov rounded off the tally in the 87th minute when he utilised Barotov’s pass.