Sk Jamal brush aside Muktis to extend lead

Sheikh Jamal's Haitian recruit Wedson Anselme (L) heads the ball into the net to score the first goal against Muktijoddha Sangsad in their Bangladesh Premier League encounter at the Bangabandhu National Stadium yesterday. PHOTO: STAR

Title aspirants Sheikh Jamal extended their lead in the Nitol Tata Bangladesh Premier League with a 2-0 win over Muktijoddha Sangsad at the Bangabandhu National Stadium yesterday.
After the barren first half, Haitian Wedson Anselme and Nigerian Emeka Darlington struck one goal each to push Sheikh Jamal's lead to 31, six points ahead of second-placed Abahani, who have played a match less than the leaders' 13 matches.
On the other hand, Muktijoddha Sangsad, after two successive defeats, remained in fourth position with 18 points from 13 games.
Shrugging off their poor performance in the 2-2 draw against Feni Soccer Club, Sheikh Jamal put up an improved performance to dominate Muktijoddha Sangsad, who could hardly penetrate the Sheikh Jamal backline without their Nigerian striking duo of Nkowcha Kingsley and Sunday Chizoba.
“We have dropped Nkowcha and Sunday for strategic reasons as we adopted the counter-attacking game and held them in the first half. But conceding a bad goal early in the second half due to Eleta Benjamin, who wanted to leave the pitch after the first half, sank us,” said Muktijoddha Sangsad coach Shafiqul Islam Manik, who apparently aimed to snatch a point from the leaders following two defeats against Abahani and Mohammedan in three matches.
Manik's charges played according to plan to hold the opponents in the first half. Sheikh Jamal however could have taken the lead in the first half were it not for two superb saves from Muktijoddha Sangsad goalkeeper Rasel Mahmud Liton, who denied Alamgir Kabir Rana and Emeka Darlington in the last five minutes of the break.
After resumption, Sheikh Jamal exerted immense pressure on Muktijoddha and it paid off within five minutes of resumption after Haitian Sony Norde floated a chance over the crosspiece on the edge of the box.
Alamgir Rana, playing in the starting 11 for the first time, put a nice lob outside the danger zone in the 50th minute for Wedson, who stabbed a glancing header to beat goalkeeper Liton, the goal putting him level with league top-scorer Emeka on 11 goals.
However, Wedson's joint lead lasted only 27 minutes as he fed the team's second goal for Emeka, who nodded in a Wedson chip to confirm the victory and re-established his solo lead.        
After taking the double lead, Sheikh Jamal strengthened the backline sending in Didarul Haque in place of midfielder Alamgir Rana and the move eventually provided Muktijoddha Sangsad access to some space in the later stages with captain Maruful Ahmed being denied first by goalkeeper Ziaur Rahman and then the woodwork.
“We had worked hard on the defence after the 2-2 draw against Feni Soccer and the boys also gave their full concentration in the game,” said Sheikh Jamal coach Joseph Afusi. “When a team plays defensive, it is easy to put pressure on them and then goals will come eventually, but I want to give all credit to my boys who really played better today (Friday).”