Rekha Paudel scored five goals and Preeti Rai netted a hat-trick as Nepal demolished the Maldives 11-0 in a total domination in their second Group B match of the SAFF Women’s Championship at the Dasharath Stadium in Kathmandu on Monday.

Sabita Rana Magar, Anita KC and Amisha Karki were also on target for Nepal.

The victory margin is Nepal’s third biggest win in the SAFF Women’s competition, and fourth overall. They had beaten Afghanistan 13-0 and Pakistan 12-0 during the group stage of the inaugural SAFF Women’s Championship in 2010 in Bangladesh. India hold the record for the biggest win of the competition, having defeated Bhutan with a scoreline of 18-0, also in the 2010 edition.

The win against the Maldives is also a clear message that coach Rajendra Tamang’s team, who were held to a 0-0 draw by Bhutan in their opening match, are still favoured to win their maiden trophy after reaching final in five of the six previous editions.

Coach Tamang made five changes in the squad that played a goalless stalemate against Bhutan, resting captain and goalkeeper Anjila Tumbapo Subba and star forward Sabitra Bhandari, who arrived in Kathmandu from France on Monday morning. Second choice goalkeeper Anjana Rana Magar, Rekha Paudel, Bimala BK, Bimala Chaudhary and Nisha Thokar started against the Maldives.

Hira Bhujel and Dipa Shahi, who were stretchered off during the Bhutan clash due to injuries, are set to miss the rest of the SAFF championship.

Nepal women were under a huge pressure after going winless against Bhutan for the first time in their SAFF history.

The presence of Bhandari was also badly missed and there were doubts whether Nepal could deliver against the Maldives.

But Paudel did not let the absence of Bhandari gloom the crowd again.

Nepal were totally dominant from the start, pushing the Maldives to a frantic defending from early on.

The pressure immediately paid off as Rai started the goal rush when her low shot from the left astonishingly beat two defenders before squeezing past Maldives goalkeeper Aminath Leeza in the 5th minute.

The early setback woke up Leeza and the goalkeeper put all her effort to deny Paudel twice and Rashmi Ghising once to keep Nepal from scoring further.

But Sabita Rana Magar undid Leeza in the 29th minute with a well-measured left-footed long ranger, which suddenly opened the floodgates.

Paudel smelled blood and scored twice before the break—first flicking a cross from Ghising in the 32nd minute and then tapping in a pass from Sabita in the 42nd minute.

The goal fest continued after the break as well.

Paudel then completed her hat-trick three minutes into the restart smashing the roof of the net from close range after Aminath Zaahiya failed to clear her first attempt from a tight angle.

Paudel got her fourth in the 63rd minute after Saru Limbu, who also engineered Nepal’s fifth goal earlier, put her through with a clever pass.

Rai scored a screamer in the 65th for her individual second, arrowing from the edge of the box after Paudel cut back for her.

Anita KC got Nepal’s eighth in the 69th seconds after coming off the bench after running into substitute Anita Basnet’s pass that collected a bit of luck off a deflection from Hawwa Haneefa.

Paudel got her fifth goal of the game in the 78th after KC set her up.

Rai scored her hat-trick in the 87th through a penalty after MSB Ahmed Ali handled the ball inside the area, and substitute Karki wrapped up a big victory a minute later converting a pass from Sabita.

Nepal had a total of 35 shots at attempt—22 of them were on target—to the Maldives’ none.

“Our first match was unexpected. The coach told us to play an attacking game and try to score more. Our objective was clear and I am happy that I was able to score,” player of the match Paudel said during the presentation.

“It was a team effort. Thanks to my teammates,” she added.

Nepal climbed to the top in the Group B standing on goal difference despite being level on four points with Bhutan, who thumped Sri Lanka 4-1 earlier on the day.

Nepal take on Sri Lanka in their final group game on Thursday. Sri Lanka have three points and lie in the third position.

The Maldives crashed out after two straight losses and will play for pride against Bhutan on Thursday.

Tournament’s most successful side and five-time champions India and defending champions Bangladesh, who beat Nepal in the 2022 final to break India’s iron grip on SAFF throne last edition, are in Group B.

India, who beat Pakistan 5-2 in their opening match, have already progressed into the last four. Bangladesh have one point after a damaging draw against Pakistan and face off against India in their last group game on Wednesday.