Bashundhara scrape past Rahmatganj
Bashundhara Kings moved back to the top of the Bangladesh Premier League table, retaining their hundred per cent record so far, following a 1-0 victory over Rahmatganj MFS at the Sheikh Kamal Stadium in Nilphamari yesterday.
Kyrgyz forward Bakhtiyar Duyshobekov scored the only goal of the game from the spot five minutes into the second half after his Brazilian teammate Marcos Vinicius was adjudged to have been fouled inside the box by Rahmatganj centre-back and captain Monday Osagie.
The referee did not hesitate in pointing to the spot despite heavy protestation from the Rahmatganj skipper. It did look like the Nigerian got a touch on the ball while trying to clear it from Vinicius, who had hared into the box on a throughball from Alamgir Kabir Rana.
The Kyrgyz forward, though, calmly dispatched the spot-kick to the top left corner of the net, picking up his first goal of the campaign.
Although Bashundhara Kings were not as impressive as they have been in this campaign – they scored nine goals against one conceded in their past four games – they did make some impression in front of goal, with Vinicius and Daniel Colindres in the thick of things. Bahsundhara should have got a second goal in added of time of the second half when Rahmatganj defender Damien Udeh failed to clear Vinicius's shot, allowing Colindres to poke it home. However, the linesman raised the offside flag even though Colindres was clearly in an onside position.
The win took Bashundhara to 15 points from five matches, equal with defending champions Abahani, who have played a match more. Rahmatganj, on the other hand, remained on three points from six matches.
Meanwhile, NoFeL Sporting Club, after having lost their first three matches, have now got two points from two matches, thanks to a 0-0 draw against Team BJMC at the Shaheed Bulu Stadium in Noakhali yesterday. The draw took both sides to two points as they remained at the bottom of the table even though NoFeL SC have played five matches to Team BJMC's six.