MSC held by Brothers
A struggling Mohammedan SC returned to the loop of impasse in the Nitol Tata Bangladesh Premier League when they surrendered an early lead to play out a 1-1 draw against Brothers Union at the Bangabandhu National Stadium yesterday.
Zahid Hasan Emily put Mohammedan ahead with a clever strike in the 43rd minute but Brothers' Ghanaian defender Issah Yousuf converted a penalty in the 75th minute to force Mohammedan to their fifth draw in eight matches. Despite the draw, Mohammedan overtook Muktijoddha Sangsad in the fourth position of the ten-team table with 11 points from eight matches, by virtue of superior goal difference.
Brothers, on the other hand, raised their tally to nine points from eight outings and are just behind fifth-placed Muktijoddha Sangsad.
Mohammedan came into the match on the back of a 2-0 win over Chittagong Abahani and they showed signs of another good performance as they came close to taking the lead in the ninth minute, but Egyptian forward Mostafa Seddik's header narrowly missed the target.
The Motijheel outfit kept on pressing and took the lead two minutes before the break when Zahid Hasan Emily put the ball at the back of the net for the third successive match.
The veteran striker chested down a lob from Towhidu Alam, took the ball on his feet and sent it over the advancing goalkeeper Mohammad Sujath from inside the box to notch his fourth goal of the league.
But the scenario changed after the lemon break as Brothers took control of the match with timely substitutions as youngsters Jewel Rana and Rubel Miah came in place of Faisal Mahmud and Mohammad Yousuf.
Before being substituted, Faisal came close to levelling the margin in the 51st minute but his shot went straight to goalkeeper Titumir Chowdhury. The persistent pressure paid off as Brothers earned the penalty when Kester Akon was tackled from behind by Tapu Barman inside the danger zone. Issah converted the penalty for the second time in the league to equalise for The Oranges.
Afterwards, Jewel put a defence-splitting pass for Rubel, but the teenage winger failed to capitalise and Brothers had to be content with their third successive draw.
“We played a very good match for the second time but poor referring resulted in another draw for us. The outcome of the match was definitely not good for us as we had a plan to keep the 1-0 lead intact till the end,” said Mohammedan coach Jose Rui Capela Batista, further claiming that the penalty given against them was not the right decision.
“We are coming from behind to snatch a single point but not being able to win. I think the players lack concentration at times. But I am hopeful we will get better in next matches,” said Brothers scorer Issah.
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