Feni SC thru' to last 8

Feni Soccer Club moved into the quarterfinals of the Modhumoti Bank Independence Cup Football tournament with an exhilarating 3-2 win over Rahmatganj MFS in their first match of the tournament at the Bangabandhu National Stadium yesterday.
Gambian midfielder Landing Darboe struck a brace in the first half while Abdullah Al Mamun scored the winner for Feni Soccer.
Nurul Afsar and Jahangir scored one goal each for Rahmatganj, who have a slim chance to play the quarterfinals if Feni Soccer beat Team BJMC with at least 2-0 margin in the group-deciding match on Wednesday. Rahmatganj and BJMC earlier played a goalless draw.
Feni Soccer Club, who are at the bottom of the Bangladesh Premier League table with only four points from nine matches, flew in four Gambian players to see them in the ongoing tournament before signing them for the professional football league and they seemingly passed in their first test in Dhaka.
Feni did not take much time to go ahead when Rony Islam whipped a well-judged cross from the right for Darboe, who found the back of Rahmatganj net with an effortless header in the sixth minute.
The boys of Feni kept the pressure on Rahmatganj, who were playing without any foreign players, for the double and it was Darboe again, who drove home from close range when a clearance from Rahmatganj goalkeeper Al Amin came in his way on 31 minutes.
After being two goals down, Rahmatganj, the second-tier league side, bit back to pull one goal back on the 37th minute with Nurul Afsar converting the penalty corner.
The old Dhaka outfit kept their tempo in the second half to put huge pressure on Feni levelled the margin through Jahangir, who beat goalkeeper Nehal with a powerful shot from outside the box in the 72nd minute.
With a 2-2 draw Rahmatganj kept their cup dreams alive but Feni had the last laugh to confirm the quarterfinal berth when Abdullah Al Mamum, who just came onto the pitch one minute before, darted into the box from the right to dance past two defenders and past goalkeeper Al Amin with a angular shot to fire Feni Soccer in the last eight.
In the day's other match, Chittagong Abahani held Brothers Union to a 1-1 draw to keep their slim hope of progressing to the next stage alive but the outcome between Abahani and Brothers ensured the quarterfinal pregression for Sheikh Russel, who defeated Chittagong Abahani 3-0 in the first match.