Jewel puts Arambagh in final

A last-gasp strike from Mohammad Jewel took Arambagh to the final of the Walton Independence Cup with a single-goal win over former champions Sheikh Jamal DC at the Bangabandhu National Stadium yesterday.

Arambagh, who played in the Federation Cup final in the 2016-17 season, will play against the winners of the second semifinal between holders Chittagong Abahani and Rahmatganj in the final on February 10.

The win is the maiden final appearance for the Motijheel-based outfit and a fourth overall final appearance for them in domestic competitions.

A youthful Arambagh were tipped favourites following their emphatic win over Federation Cup and Bangladesh Premier League champions Abahani in the quarterfinals and they deserved the win after having displayed possession-based football all throughout.

The ball was mostly confined in the midfield in the initial stages, with both sides trying to take control of the midfield even though Arambagh caught the attention with crisp passing as well as quick counter-attacks.

However, it was Sheikh Jamal who mustered the first shot on target in the 25th minute when left-back Anisul Alam Sweet hammered a powerful shot on a poor clearance from outside the box, but Arambagh goalkeeper Azam Khan parried it for a corner before Shahriar Bappy tried his luck from distance, but the shot went wide of the Sheikh Jamal goal in the 39th minute.

The Dhanmondi giants came close to taking the lead in stoppage time of the first half when Zahed Parvez whipped in a cross from the right flank that rattled the crossbar after bouncing in front of Azam Khan.

Sheikh Jamal dominated the midfield after the restart but Arambagh were quick on the counter and created at least three scoring chances within the first 15 minutes. However, none of the chances came into fruition thanks to Sheikh Jamal goalkeeper Mohammad Nayeem, who denied Jewel in a one-on-one situation while Abu Sufian Sufil and Mohammad Arif drove wide of the target.

Sheikh Jamal pressed for the lead and Javed Khan saw his goal-bound shot intercepted by defender Abu Sufian Zahid and eventually drift away over the crosspiece in the 88th minute.

Having survived the scare, Arambagh launched a quick counter-attack with captain Sufil darting into the box down the right flank before he cut the ball back for unmarked Jewel, who drove a left-footer from inside the box to send Arambagh and their fans into a wild celebration in the 89th minute.

With the match rolling into stoppage time, Sheikh Jamal found another opportunity to equalise but Javed surprisingly hit it straight at the opposition goalkeeper from the edge of the six-yard box.

“It was the continuation of our good performance as we reached the final after facing top four teams of the league. Qualifying for the final exceeds our expectation as we had a target of reaching the semifinals,” said Arambagh coach Maruful Haque.

“All credit goes to the boys for successfully executing the counter-attacking strategy,” Maruful added.

“We had to pay the price for wasting a few scoring chances. It was a bad day for us and a good day for Arambagh because we did not avail the chances while Arambagh cashed in on one of their chances,” said Sheikh Jamal coach Mahbub Hossain Roxy.