Mohammedan thrash Fortis as BPL resumes

Title aspirants Mohammedan Sporting Club resumed their Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) campaign with a bang, handing a massive 4-0 defeat to Fortis Football Club in their first match of the second leg at the Rafique Uddin Bhuiyan Stadium in Mymensingh on Friday.

The fifth win from 10 matches meant Mohammedan closed the gap with leaders Bashundhara Kings, trailing the four-time champions by two points, who are set to play their 100th BPL match against Brothers Union today.

Coincidentally, Brothers Union were also Abahani Limited's opponent in their 100th match in the league in the 5th BPL, which Abahani won 4-2.

Fortis FC had given Mohammedan a run for their money in their first meeting this season before losing 2-1 but were unable to repeat their first-leg performance.

Though Mohammedan dominated from the outgo, they had to wait till the 41st minute before taking the lead and once they broke the deadlock, the Black and Whites struck three more goals within a span of 18 minutes.

Uzbek midfielder Mozaffarjon Mozaffarov received a cut-back from captain Souleymane Diabate and let loose a powerful drive from outside the box to open the scoring.

Diabate then doubled the lead from the spot in the stoppage time of the first half after Emon Shahirar was harshly tackled inside the box.

After resumption, Jafar Iqbal made it 3-0 in the 53rd minute with a simple tap in before Emon scored the last goal of the match, controlling a forward pass from Diabate inside the box and then easily beating the opponent goalkeeper in the 59th minute.

At the Sheikh Fazlul Haque Moni Stadium in Gopalganj, Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club came from behind to play out a 1-1 draw against Sheikh Russel Krira Chakra. Sheikh Russel's Guinean recruit Sekou Sylla scored in the 23rd minute before Sheikh Jamal's Shokhrukhbek Kholmatov cancelled it out from the spot in the 56th.

Bangladesh Police also made a winning start in the second leg with a 1-0 win over Chittagong Abahani with Al Amin nodding the winning header in the 79th minute at Birshreshtha Shaheed Flight Lt Matiur Rahman Stadium in Munshiganj.