Nepal qualify for the 16-team final round in Malaysia next September.

Striker Parvez Chowdhury gave the hosts a perfect start in the final match of the Group Five qualifier with a spectacular goal after just two minutes

But after protecting the slender lead for over seventy minutes, Nepal had to wait until the 72nd minute to eventually edge out Bangladesh for a berth in next year's finals.

The knockout blow happened when Bangladesh custodian Piru trying to clear the ball from substitute Susan Bhandari's powerful grounder only resulted in the ball bouncing off the chest of defender Zahirul and into the net.

Despite losing the initiative Abu Yousuf's young brigade tried frantically to grab a winner knowing that Nepal would go through on goal difference in case of a drawn affair. And in the remaining 18 minutes they earned as many as five corners but failed to capitalise from any of them.

The result of the do-or-die encounter was a bitter pill to swallow especially for Yousuf who three years ago in Rajshahi went so close when in charge of the Under-19 team. On that occasion local hopes were also dashed by an identical scoreline against Iraq.

Going into Friday's match Bangladesh had to win because both teams had earlier seen off Pakistan with contrasting victories in the three-nation qualifying group. But while Himalayan kingdom won 3-0 the home team managed a scratchy solitary goal victory in their opening fixture.

When Parvez's brilliant side-volley gave the youthful Bangladeshis the lead it was the start that everybody in the packed stadium was hoping for.

The young lad was the quickest to react after the ball came off the head of fellow midfielder Arup Kumar.

Bangladesh then intensified the pressure on their opponents. They had two more distinct chances to increase the margin in the space of 14 minutes.

But each time Nepal custodian Bikash Malla pulled off some smart saves to keep his team in the contest.

Afterwards Yousuf admitted his team paid the price for not scoring a second goal with chances they had in the first half.

"If we could've scored another goal in the first half that would have sealed our place," bemoaned the Bangladesh coach.

However he did want to talk too much about the own-goal. According to him it could happen at any moment in a football match no matter who was playing.

His Nepalese counterpart Ashok Babu praised his boys for showing their fighting qualities when put under pressure.

Yellow cards: Pralaya Rajbhandari and Shekhar Thapa (Nepal).

TEAMS

BANGLADESH: Piru, Shiraji, Zahir, Robin, Faisal, Maruf, Sharif, Anwar, Ridon (Morshed), Parvez (Malay) and Arup Kumar (Sujon).

NEPAL: Bikash Malla, Subash Rai, Prashant Giri (Susan Bhandari), Pradeep Maharajan, Pralaya Rajbhandari, Bijay Gurung, Raj Kumar Ghishing, Prabin Manandhar, Anjan, Lok Bahadur and Shekhar Thapa.

Referee: Rizwanul Haq (India).