Ten-man Sk Jamal hold Abahani
Ten-man Sheikh Jamal DC played out a goalless draw against Abahani at the Bangabandhu National Stadium yesterday to keep their six-point lead at the top of the Nitol Tata Bangladesh Premier League.
Sheikh Jamal showed their fighting attitude despite being reduced to 10 men in the 60th minute and they seemed satisfied with the stalemate, which kept them six points clear of their nearest rivals Abahani, having 38 points from 16 outings.
The tie was important for four-time champions Abahani to close the gap with the league leaders but the Sky Blues never looked to have the killer punch, and on the contrary, survived from conceding on three occasions.
Despite missing the league's highest-scorer Emeka Darlington, Sheikh Jamal launched some good attacks but it was Abahani goalkeeper Shahidul Alam Sohel who kept Abahani in the game by thwarting two close range efforts and was lucky not to have conceded when he was beaten by Sony Norde.
Wedson Anselme came close to giving Sheikh Jamal the lead in the 15th minute when he availed a fumble from Abahani defender Mofazzal Hossain Saikat to step into the danger zone but his low drive at the near post was nicely parried away by Sohel, who later tipped over a close-range header from Nigerian Wasio Afis four minutes into the second half.
In the 56th minute, Sony ran in to a through-pass from Wedson and curled the ball at the far post but it narrowly missed the target with goalkeeper Sohel beaten.
Four minutes later, Sheikh Jamal were reduced to ten men when right-back Linkon unnecessarily charged Atiqur Rahman Meshu.
Nigerian coach Joseph Afusi strengthened the defence sending on Yeasin in place of Sohel Rana and his fortified defence held on comfortably for a draw.
Meanwhile, Brothers Union's winning steak came to an end when they surrendered an early lead to play out a 1-1 draw against Muktijoddha Sangsad in the day's first match.
Brothers, who came into the match with four successive wins, went ahead in the sixth minute through a strike from Haitian forward Augustine Walson before Muktijoddha's Nigerian striker Sunday Chizoba levelled the margin from a spot-kick on the half-hour mark after he was brought downy Yusuf Issah inside the box.
However, like the previous match, Brothers showed their unprofessional attitude regarding the penalty decision and forced the match to a halt for a few minutes before coming back to the game. After resumption, Muktijoddha created better chances than Brothers but the failure of their forwards and sending-off of Gerald Ledoux in the 81st minute left Muktijoddha with their third draw in 15 matches.
With fifth draw in 16 matches, Brothers joined third-placed Mohammedan with 26 points even though the Black and Whites played a match less than the All Oranges.
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