Dubious win keeps Farashganj alive
Farashganj kept their hopes of avoiding relegation to the second-tier alive by notching a questionable 3-1 win over runners-up Sheikh Jamal in their final match of this edition of the Bangladesh Premier League at the Bangabandhu National Stadium yesterday.
The victory helped Farashganj climb to 11th position on the 12-team table with 17 points from the allotted 22 matches and equal Muktijoddha Sangsad's points tally, leaving Rahmatganj MFS at the bottom with 15 points.
However, Farashganj still have to wait to know their fate as Muktijoddha Sangsad and Rahmatganj have a match remaining against Team BJMC and Saif SC respectively.
According to the bylaws if more than one team finishes on the bottom with an equal number of points, a relegation play-off will be held to decide which side is demoted to the Bangladesh Championship League.
During the match, it was surprising to see Sheikh Jamal, who handed a massive 5-0 defeat to Farashganj in their first encounter, field a squad sans top-scorer Raphael Odoyin.
More surprising was how the Dhanmondi-based outfit conceded three goals within the first 35 minutes. Sheikh Jamal's lacklustre backline seemed almost reluctant to try and stop Farashganj's Nigerian forward Chindu Mathew, who scored two goals before assisting Mohammad Alamgir for the other.
Before this fixture, Arambagh were the only ones to score three goals against Sheikh Jamal. In that encounter, Sheikh Jamal conceded four but scored six in reply.
However, yesterday there seemed to be no urgency to fight back as Gambian forward Solomon King, the league's second top scorer, wasted a few scoring opportunities and even failed to beat Farashganj's goalkeeper in a one on one situation in the second half, but he reedemed himself by converting a penalty in the 90th minute.
Sheikh Jamal came into the match on the back of 44 goals from 21 matches while Farashganj had scored only 13 goals.
“There is no question about giving up the match because it was a game like any other,” said Sheikh Jamal coach Mahbub Hossain Roxy.
“However, there was problem in defence because they are immature players. Besides, the players lacked motivation as the champions and runners-up were decided before this match.”
Farashganj coach Mohidur Rahman Miraz also denied any whispers of the match being fixed in order to receive the three prized points.
“There may have such whisper about something after such a win but one thing I told my players before the match is that Sheikh Jamal had nothing to lose but we have something to earn in a bid to avoid relegation. I believe the boys really played well and won the match,” Mohidur informed.