Abahani toil for victory

Holders Abahani were made to sweat against lightweights Arambagh before notching up a 2-1 win in their Bangladesh Premier League encounter at the Bangabandhu National Stadium yesterday.

Striker Nabib Newaj Jibon and winger Saad Uddin struck a goal each for Abahani, before Nigeria's Alamu Bukola reduced the margin as Arambagh gave their superior opponents a run for their money before going down.

Since clinching the season's curtain-raising Federation Cup, five-team profession league champions Abahani have been going through ups and downs and had dropped seven points before taking on a spirited Arambagh in the seventh round of matches. Arambagh came into the game on the back of a goalless draw against league leaders Chittagong Abahani.

However, despite recent troubles the holders looked confident from the outset and dominated Aramabagh in the first half, taking a deserved lead on the half-hour mark after twice coming close to breaking the deadlock only to be denied by Arambagh goalkeeper Mahfuz Hasan Pritom.

Pritom parried a Jibon shot in the 23rd minute and did well to hold on to a close-range header from Rubel Mia in the 28th minute but he could not thwart Jibon, who struck from inside the six-yard box in the 31st minute when a corner came his way.

Six minutes later Abahani doubled their lead with winger Saad mustering a brilliant dipping shot from 30 yards out that gave Pritom no chance as it crashed into the Arambagh net.

After going two down, Arambagh put their foot on the gas and pulled one back as Bukola converted from the spot in stoppage time after winger Mohammad Jewel was felled by Abahani goalkeeper Shahidul Alam Sohel.

If the first half belonged to Abahani, Arambagh dominated the second and made their might opponents toil till the last seconds of the game. Arambagh's shouts for a penalty in the 57th minute were ignored after Bukola was supposedly pushed from behind by defender Samad Yussif. Replays showed that Bukola himself had inexplicably tumbled inside the box with only the goalkeeper to beat.

However, things took a turn for the worse as Abahani lost control of the midfield after Imtiaz Sultan Jitu replaced Emon Babu and Abahani goalkeeper Shoel rebuffed two good efforts from Bukola and Mahmudul Hasan Kiron in the 63rd and 88th minutes to keep their lead intact.

Finally, Abahani left with a fourth win which helped them hold onto fourth position with 14 points, while Arambagh stayed glued to second from bottom with four points.

In the day's other match, Chittagong Abahani returned to winning ways with a single-goal win over Muktijoddha Sangsad. Nigerian defender Udoka Alison separated both sides five minutes from time to help the port city outfit tighten their lead -- they now have 19 points. Meanwhile Muktijoddha Sangsad slipped to ninth with six points.