Russel down MSC

Sheikh Russel's substitute striker Wahed Ahmed is ecstatic after his first strike in the top-flight football sank giants Mohammedan eventually in their Bangladesh League encounter at the Birshreshtha Mostafa Kamal Stadium yesterday. Photo: STAR

Mohammedan SC lost more ground in the title race of the Grameenphone Bangladesh League when they suffered a single-goal defeat at the hands of Sheikh Russel KC at the Birshreshtha Mostafa Kamal Stadium in Kamalapur yesterday.
Sheikh Russel's substitute striker Wahed Ahmed separated the two sides in the 69th minute with an easy finish. The win takes Sheikh Russel to the third position in the 12-team table with 18 points from nine matches while the Black and Whites remain sixth with 13 points from nine outings.
It was Mohammedan's first defeat at the hands of Sheikh Russel since the Dhanmondi club's entrance to the top-tier competition of now-defunct Premier Division League in season of 2003-04.
Back to the game, Mohammedan should have opened the account in the third minute, but striker Anwar Hossain miserably failed to beat goalkeeper Mamun Khan from a one-on-one situation after the keeper failed to grip a long-range shot from Emeka Christian.
Having survived the initial attacks, Sheikh Russel bounced back and put up an equal fight in the rest of the half.
After resumption, both sides came with a couple of substitutions. Changes in personnel paid dividends for Sheikh Russel as they the lead from a counter-attack when Moro ran down the right to cut it back to Wahed, who just tapped the ball home from inside the six-yard box to give Sheikh Russel three valuable points.
In the other match of the day, Arambagh KS came away with a 2-1 victory over Chittagong Abahani at the Cox's Bazar Stadium.
The visitors were given the lead in the 12th minute by Nigerian forward Subair Mohammad. The lead was doubled seven minutes later when Guinean forward Bangoura Ismael scored his fourth goal of the campaign to set up a strangle hold on the game.
Chittagong Abahani found a consolation goal in the 69th minute through Nur Hossain.
This victory snapped a two-match losing streak for Arambagh as they leap to eighth on the table while Chittagong Abahani's losing streak was extended to four matches as they stay firmly on the foot of the table with only two points.