Russel, Arambagh end on a high
Sheikh Russel and Arambagh KS ended their Bangladesh Premier League campaigns with a bang by securing commanding wins over their respective opponents at two separate venues yesterday. Sheikh Russel finished in third position while Arambagh became fifth on the league table.
Sheikh Russel defeated the recently relegated Team BJMC 3-1, courtesy of a treble from Nigerian forward Raphael Odoyin at the Sylhet District Stadium. Similarly, a hattrick from Arambagh’s Nigerian marksman Chinedu Mathew powered the side to a massive 5-2 win over Brothers Union at the Bangabandhu National Stadium.
Sheikh Russel, who finished sixth last year, bettered their position on the 13-team table with 52 points from 24 matches. The former champions were well within the title race at the close of the first leg but eventually fell behind following two successive defeats at the hands of Saif SC and Chittagong Abahani.
With his second treble in the league, Sheikh Russel forward Raphael exceeded Abahani’s striker Sunday Chizoba’s 20 strikes to become the top-scorer in two successive seasons with 22 goals. He and Solomon King jointly became the top-scorer in previous edition with 15 goals.
BJMC, who finished dead last out of 13 teams with only 11 points from 24 matches, stunned Sheikh Russel in the 31st minute through Kinsley Oshiokha before Raphael struck in the 36th, 45th and 78th minutes respectively.
At the Bangabandhu National Stadium, Arambagh notched their biggest victory in the league this year, a feat made possible by strike pair Paul Emile (two goals) and Nigerian Chinedu Mathew (three goals), who shared five goals among them after Brothers opened the scoring with a third minute strike from Park Jae-Hyeong. Brothers completed the scoresheet with Mannaf Rabbi strike in the 72nd minute.
For Arambagh, securing fifth position with 33 points from 24 matches remained the best ever result for the side as they had secured a similar finish in the 2009 edition. The motijheel-based outfit finished eighth last season.
On the other hand, Brothers escaped from relegation to finish 11th with 21 points from 24 matches. This was the worst-ever result for fallen giants of Bangladesh football as they had finished fourth twice in the 2008 and 2015-16 seasons.