The outcome leaves Bangladesh needing to climb a mountain to overturn the deficit in the second leg, which takes place in Dushanbe tomorrow. Coach Golam Sarwar Tipu received chilly jolt after learning the game will be played in sub-zero temperatures.

The visitors, who should have walked away with at least six goals, had to settle for two in either half to stun the nearly 5,000 fans that turned up at the venue.

But their festival mood received a rude shock on 11 minutes when Khamidov Sukhrob put the Tajiks ahead with a right-footer after Bangladesh custodian Aminul failed to deal with his header.

Bangladesh's hopes of finding an equaliser never seemed quite on the cards especially as the much-vaunted midfield trio of Arman Mia, Monwar Hossain and Matiur Munna could not find a way through the rock-solid Tajik back four.

Before the dying minutes of the first half there was hardly a worthwhile attack mounted by the home team. But when the chances finally came strikers Alfaz Ahmed and Rokunuzzaman Kanchan wasted them.

The lower-ranked Tajiks needed only five minutes after the break to throttle their superior opponents. Hakimov Numordzhon had the simplest task to tap the ball home following confusion inside the box.

After what proved to be the killer blow, the Tajiks relaxed a little but that still didn't inspire Bangladesh to stage some sort of fightback.

And once again when a scoring chance did arrive it disappeared as second half substitute striker Ariful Kabir Farhad discovered in the 64th minute.

Coming in place of Alfaz, the Mohammedan striker opted for power rather than precision as his left-footer went miles wide of the target.

Only the woodwork denied the goal-hungry Tajiks, ranked 180th by FIFA, from compounding 147th-ranked Bangladesh's woes.

Besides, Aminul had to be at his very best to keep Tajikistan at bay.

The under-prepared Bangladesh team had to battle the remaining 24 minutes with only 10 men when Azmol Hossain Biddyut was sent off after the midfielder committed his second reckless challenge within a minute.

Although his team lost the match, Bangladesh coach Tipu expressed his satisfaction over his side's performance.

"They were very strong opponents. We were unprepared that's why I'm happy in a way because my injury-hit team could play for full ninety minutes."

On the other hand, Tajikistan coach Nazarov Sharif said that he was very satisfied.

"We missed lot of easy chances but I am happy with the overall performance. The team will do even better in the next match," he said.

Red card: Biddyut (Bangladesh)

Yellow cards: Denis and Sukhrob (Tajikistan), Saiful (Bangladesh).