Nigerian duo Mwach Ukwu Paul and Emeka Christina each scored a brace while Mohammed Rony celebrated his first team selection also with a two-goal effort at the Bangabandhu National Stadium as the black and whites took pole position for the first time in the competition.

Prashanta Dey reduced the arrears from a penalty in the embarrassingly one-sided affair as Khulna Abahani's trip to the capital turned sour after memorable wins against local giants Brothers Union and Abahani. The tourists stuck to nine points at eighth place.

It was the sixth win for Shafiqul Islam Manik's side rapidly improving side, who had won just one match in their first five attempts and slumped to second from bottom before having a welcome break from the fixture.

Since captain Paul's six-goal heroics in the 7-1 mauling of Rahmatganj in the sixth match, Mohammedan have not lost a single point to reach 20 points after ten games.

Almost written off from the title race, the black and whites will remain on top if top-of-the-table contenders Sheikh Russel and Abahani, level on 18 points, draw the first-leg finale on Wednesday.

Mohammedan, who put on an excellent display of attacking football in last week's 2-1 victory against visiting English club Oldham Athletic youth side, began where they had left off and Emeka fired the hosts ahead after eight minutes.

It was Paul who dashed down the left, dodging past three defenders on way to the six-yard box before releasing a square pass that left Emeka with a simple task of placing home.

Paul was on target two minutes later when the robust Nigerian, apparently offside, put down a left-flank centre by Kamal with his chest and hammered a volley into the top right corner from seven yards.Unsettled by two early goals, the Khulna outfit found it hard to regroup but managed to hold the scoreline 2-0 till 36 minutes as Rony failed to convert from one-on-one and Emeka nodded the ball on to the crossbar.

Paul increased the margin nine minutes from the breather when he raced past rival centre-back Shahin with a through from leftback Kamal and finished the move after going round goalkeeper Foyaz.

Rony soon fluffed a chance from close range before the young winger won a penalty after being tripped by Hadiuzzaman two minutes from break. Paul, the top scorer of the league with 11 goals, however, failed to complete his second hattrick of the league as he fired wide from the spot despite sending Foyaz the wrong way.

Rony finally got a deserved goal in the 49th minute when he beat an onrushing Foyaz to a Kamal cross from the left to put the ball into the near post with a glancing header.

The visitors, famous for the counter attacks, pushed hard and after wasting two half chances, won a penalty when Arif brought Mamun down inside the box. Prashanta made no mistake to shoot home from 12 yards for his fourth goal.

Foyaz's legworks denied another point-blank range effort from Rony, who set up Emeka with a chip from the right to make it 5-1 in the 68th minute with a sliding finish.

Emeka complimented Rony with a square pass a couple of minutes later as the local boy tapped in to seal the victory with his second goal of the match.