Jamal edge Russel
A second-half strike from Landing Darboe powered Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club to a narrow win over title contenders Sheikh Russel KC in the Manyavar Bangladesh Premier League at the Bangabandhu National Stadium yesterday.
With sixth straight wins, Sheikh Jamal are in pole position of the 11-team point table with 18 points, five ahead of second-placed Abahani and nine clear of sixth-placed Sheikh Russel KC, who suffered second defeat in five matches.
“I think we have completed only 30 percent of our job of retaining the title,” said Sheikh Jamal coach Maruful Haque, who believed his charges came out of individual performances to play as a team which resulted in the win.
Sheikh Russel, despite playing without their two key foreign players -- Bojan Patrick and Kingsley Chigozie -- due to injuries, played comparatively better than their previous matches and exposed the Sheikh Jamal defence on quite a few occasions but were denied by the woodwork twice.
Within the first 25 minutes, Winger Zahid Hossain whipped in two nice crosses for striker Zahid Hasan Emily, who was first denied by the woodwork and then drove off target. With the half time approaching, the same striker received a nice cutback from Wali Faisal, but his feeble drive failed to test Sheikh Jamal goalkeeper Mazharul Islam Himel.
Sheikh Jamal also showed character and launched some attacks from the right flank, with Landing putting ball in front of the goalmouth but there was no one to capitalise on it.
The Gambian midfielder finally capitalised on a Mohammad Linkon corner in the 56th minute as his bouncing header beat Sheikh Russel keeper.
Ten minutes later, the defending champions were denied by the woodwork as substitute Monaem Khan Raju's powerful shot from distance but rattled the crossbar.
Sheikh Russel came close to snatching a point one minute from time, but once again were denied by the woodwork as substitute Akeem Priestley's effort struck the crosspiece.
ABAHANI BOUNCE BACK
Meanwhile, Abahani bounced back from their 0-2 defeat against Sheikh Russel with a 1-0 win over Brothers Union over Brothers Union in the second match of the day under the floodlights.
The decisive goal came in the 21st minute when Emon Babu squared the ball to Hungarian midfielder Gabor Demjen, who drove a left footed shot from outside the box to beat Brothers goalkeeper Biplob Bhattacharjee.
The win lifted the Sky Blues to second position with 13 from six matches while Brothers remained at fourth position with previous 10 points from six outings.
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