Matthew powers Arambagh into last eight
Arambagh became the first team to move into the quarterfinals of the Walton Federation Cup after an empathic 3-1 win over Rahmatganj in their Group A encounter at the Bangabandhu National Stadium yesterday.
The win in season's first match has not only put the defending Independence Cup champions into the last eight, but also saw Chittagong Abahani to the quarterfinals while Rahmatganj, following consecutive defeats, were eliminated.
Rahmatganj had no alternative but to beat Arambagh to stay in the tournament but Syed Golam Jilani's charges failed to improve their performance from the previous match, where they suffered a 3-1 defeat against Chittagong Abahani.
Arambagh, however, faced some stiff resistance till the 45th minute before Chinedu Mathew broke the deadlock in stoppage time of the first half after availing a miscued clearance from opposition defender Monday Osagie.
The Nigerian striker ran into the box from the left flank and cut the ball in front of the post but Osagie sent it back to Matthew, whose drive ended at the back of the net.
Matthew doubled Arambagh's lead in the 66th minute when he raced on to a long ball from Arafat and placed it home past advancing goalkeeper Titumir Chowdhury.
Ariful Rahman made it 3-0 in the 80th minute by tapping in a cutback from Mohammad Rocky.
Rahmatganj scored a consolation goal in stoppage time, with Congolese striker Siyo Zunapio heading home a Damian Chigozie chip from the edge of the six-yard box.
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