Mohammedan win at last

Mohammedan Sporting Club tasted their first victory in their 10th match of the JB Bangladesh Premier League with a 1-0 win over high-flying Sheikh Jamal DC at the Bangabandhu National Stadium yesterday.

Former national striker Towhidul Alam Sabuj separated the sides three minutes into the second half with a placing shot from a goal-mouth-melee following a corner from Nzekou Patrice.

The win took the Black and Whites to ninth position with nine points from 10 outings while despite a first defeat, Sheikh Jamal stayed on top with 19 points along with Rahmatganj MFS, who have played a match less.

SHEIKH RUSSEL BACK TO LOSING WAYS

Meanwhile, after breaking the curse for only two matches, Sheikh Russel KC reverted to their losing ways by conceding a single-goal defeat against Arambagh KS in a JB Bangladesh Premier League encounter at the Bangabandhu National Stadium yesterday.

Brazilian forward Thiago Tyson Silva struck the decisive goal to help Arambagh collect their third win from 10 outings and in doing so provided Sheikh Russel with their seventh defeat. Arambagh have now moved up to fifth position while Sheikh Russel remained second from bottom with a measly five points.

The tenth round of the professional league resumed yesterday amidst concerns of crowd attendance as well as players' under-performance after the national team's debacle in Bhutan last week, and the concerns came true as the day saw only a few hundred spectators and another poor display from both sides.

After having held Abahani to a 1-1 draw and having handed Mohammedan a 1-0 defeat in their previous two matches, Sheikh Russel reverted to type yesterday, with national strikers Zahid Hasan Emily and Shakhawat Hossain Rony exhibiting equally unimpressive football as they did for the national team in Bhutan last week.

However the former champions had the lion's share of possession, yet saw their scoring opportunities spurned by Rony and Jean Jules Ikanga. Rony missed two absolute sitters as he headed far off target from inside the danger zone while Ikanga saw his low-drive from close range veer wide off the far post.

With the former champions squandering their chances, Arambagh took the lead against the run of play on 37 minutes when Tyson played a one-two with Mohammad Abdullah before driving a left-footer from the edge of the box into the back of the net, which glanced off of Sheikh Russel's Moanem Khan Raju, leaving goalkeeper Ziaur Rahman completely deceived.