Nasir inspires MSC

Mohammedan's Nigerian player Dami Emmanuelle shoots the ball past Arambagh keeper Piru (R) during a corner in their Citycell B. League match at the Bangabandhu National Stadium yesterday.Photo: STAR

Nasir Hossain set one for Hedayetullah Robin and scored the other to orchestrate Mohammedan's impressive start to the second leg of the Citycell B. League yesterday.
The Dhaka giants defeated Arambagh 2-0 at the Bangabandhu National Stadium to move within one point of leaders and archrivals Abahani after 11 rounds.
Mohammedan, who are level with Brothers Union on 22 points, will look to shut the slim gap with defending champions Abahani -- who have shown decline in performance -- in the coming rounds after an authoritative show that saw the black and whites take absolute domination.
However, the Federation Cup champions had to wait for one hour for the deserved opening goal.
Piru stood graceful under the Arambagh bar against a relentless assault as Mohammedan came alive after seven minutes. But Robin headed a cross by his Nigerian strike partner Bukola over the bar before taking a poor volley straight to Piru after hard work by Ripon at the left.
Maruful Haque's side, who had injured captain Arman Aziz back in the centre of midfield after four matches, kept the pressure and Robin wasted his third chance to score in the 14th minute when his header was cleared by Ratan from the face of the goal.
An otherwise defensive Arambagh got their lone chance in the 25th minute and almost stunned their mighty neighbours but Mostafa Kaba headed a corner by Nayan onto the crossbar with Tabith Awal's silly effort on the rebound hitting the side netting.
Egyptian midfielder Hazem, who scored their match winner in a 1-0 away win against Khulna in the last round, picked up Bukola with a fine lob seven minutes later but Mohammedan's top scorer from Nigeria was denied by Piru, who dived to parry an angled shot.
Nasir came into action soon but he failed to beat Piru, who was getting better save by save. The Arambagh custodian pulled off yet another brilliant save in the injury time when he left his goal to block Bukola's shot after Robin had created an opening.
The second half belonged to Nasir, the fullback who has effectively turned into an attacking midfielder. His speed, skill and ability to score have proved that the young boy is ready to take his place in the national team, as a rightback even if not as a midfielder, after the ageing Hassan Al Mamun's retirement, which is very close.
He opened up the rival defence two minutes after resumption but Arambagh's defensive shell blocked three attempts inside from the box before finally giving up on the hour.
This time, Nasir exchanged passes at the right flank with Bukola before getting a rebound off Piru following a strong low drive, giving a lurking Robin the chance to slot in his sixth league goal.
After the inevitable happened, Nasir came close to score within four minutes but for Piru's acrobatics.
The Arambagh shot stopper finally showed his nerve during a corner by Hazem, making a weak clearance with his fists. Bukola returned the ball with a backvolley to Robin who played it back towards the top of the box for Nasir, who neatly put the ball into the top left corner in the 68th minute.
For Nasir, who had also scored one in Mohammedan's 3-0 first-leg win over Arambagh, it was the fourth league goal.
It could have been 3-0 again but substitute Komol hit the crossbar with a left-footer, following which Mohammedan seemingly gave up the chase for goals.
Yellow card: Tutul (Arambagh)
TEAMS
MOHAMMEDAN: Aminul, Kamal, Emmanuelle, Rajani (Saikat), Ripon, Nasir, Aziz, Hazem, Faisal Mahmud, Bukola (Komol) and Robin (Roni).
ARAMBAGH: Piru (Mitul), Tutul, Ratan (Nadir), Akram, Shahjada, Moudud, Kaba, Moloy, Nayan, Tabith (Turjo) and Nicodemus.
Referee: Tayeb Hasan.