All square, all barren

Action from yesterday's Federation Cup match between Brothers Union and Wari Club at the Bangabandhu National Stadium.Photo: STAR

Both Group D fixtures of the Grameenphone Federation Cup produced barren draws as Brothers Union were held by Wari Club while Old Dhaka neighbours Rahmatganj MFS and Farashganj SC shared the spoils at two different venues yesterday.
At the Bangabandhu National Stadium, Wari Club, a Bangladesh Championship League side playing without any foreign players, continued their impressive run from the qualifying round and gave their superior opponents Brothers Union a run for the money.
Wari, comprised mostly of First Division League players who came outside Dhaka to play only one season in Dhaka, were unlucky not to win the game as they rattled the bar in the first half. Nevertheless they were happy to snatch a point from Brothers Union, a Bangladesh Premier League side who played in the semifinals last season.
At a time of diminishing individual skills, some of the Wari boys impressed with dazzling dodges, well-judged ball distribution and sense positioning, even if they could not come out victorious.
The Gopibagh-based outfit, Brothers Union, created the first opportunity of the match but their Senegalese striker Habib Diouf failed to beat advancing goalkeeper Shahen Shah from one-on-one situation on the 15th minute.
Having survived the first scare, Wari yielded three scoring opportunities but failed to cash in on any of those.
Raju ran down the left flank to swerve in a fine cross for Shafikul Islam but Brothers goalkeeper Uttam Kumar rescued his side thwarting Shafikul's shot for a corner in the 29th minute.
One minute later forward Shahinul Islam hammered a 20-yarder from outside the danger zone but was denied by the woodwork.
Shahin then failed to connect a Robin Hasan cross despite being at a opportune position inside the box.
Five minutes before the end, Brothers nearly found the back of the Wari net as Nigerian forward Joshuna Olalekan placed one for the goal, but Wari defender Mokhlesur Rahman made a timely intervention to make a goal-line save to save the day for Wari.
“Our target was to collect one point from Brothers and we are happy with achieving it. We might have even won the game had one of our shots not hit the crossbar,” said Wari captain Shafikul Islam.
“We were down in the match and there was lack of combination among the boys because it was the first match. Besides, we made a lot of mistakes in the game and we have to rectify those in the remaining matches,” said Brothers coach Syed Naeemuddin.
In another match of the day at Birshrestha Shaheed Mostafa Kamal Stadium, Rahmatganj and Farashganj shared points with a goalless draw.