Winning - the hard way

All smiles as Cambodia win the 1st-ever BIDC Cup, held aloft by capt Sun Sovannarith (18)

The Cambodia U23 starting line-up tonight; LtoR (back) Tiny, Sovannarith, Seiha, Rithy, Rady, Narith (front) Chhaya, Sokngorn, Soseila, Sokumpheak, Borey

To say Cambodia won the BIDC Cup the hard way is an understatement. In the final at Olympic Stadium tonight, Cambodia led 2-nil with Chan Chhaya netting twice, were then pulled back to 2-2 and looked to be suffering shell-shock, when Kuoch Sokumpheak joined the party and headed the winning goal just 3 minutes from the end of normal time that sent the 30,000 crowd into raptures, though they had to endure 5 minutes extra time before they could celebrate the success. More later, when I get my breath back but in the meantime, enjoy the pictures.

The players return to the bench after celebrating their win by throwing their shirts into the crowd

The Cambodian players wait to receive their winners medals

An impromptu team photo for the winning Cambodian team and coaching staff

Sao Sokha, the president of the football federation of Cambodia, promises each of the 31 members of the Cambodia squad a moto each as an extra prize for winning the BIDC Cup