Bengaluru FC suffered a 2-1 defeat away to Maziya S&RC in the first leg of the AFC Cup playoff round at the Maldives National Football Stadium here on Wednesday.
Cornelius Stewart scored with ten minutes left to give Maziya the advantage ahead of the return leg in Bengaluru next Wednesday.
After a goalless first period, Ibrahim Mahudhee opened the scoring for Maziya just after the hour mark, firing home from distance. Substitute Deshorn Brown earned a penalty for BFC minutes later which Nili Perdomo converted to even matters.
But Stewart’s strike meant that BFC had to be satisfied with just the away goal.
The club will play ATK in the ISL on Saturday before Maziya come calling for the second leg.
The result:
Maziya S&RC 2 (Ibrahim Mahudhee 64, Cornelius Stewart 80) bt Bengaluru FC 1 (Nili Perdomo 71).
