Dhaka, Oct. 9 -- Bangladesh's hopes of a historic Asian Cup qualifying win were crushed in dramatic fashion as a stoppage-time goal sealed a 4-3 victory for Hong Kong after the hosts had staged a stirring comeback in a pulsating encounter.

The hosts led early through Hamza Chowdhury's sublime strike and twice fought back from behind, only for Raphael Merkies's hat-trick and a dramatic stoppage-time finish to leave the crowd stunned on Thursday night.

Bangladesh made the perfect start when Hamza curled a stunning right-foot strike into the top corner after just 13 minutes, sending the crowd into raptures.

But Hong Kong struck back on the stroke of half-time, punishing a lapse in defence. In the fourth minute of added time, Everton Camar...