Abahani’s late comeback keeps title race alive

Abahani conjured a late comeback with two goals in the dying minutes to down Dhaka Mariner Youngs 4-3 in the Green Delta Insurance Premier Division Hockey League at the Maulana Bhasani Hockey Stadium yesterday.

Mariners, who only needed to avoid defeat to regain the prestigious title, were leading the high-voltage match 3-2 up to 58 minutes and had one hand in the trophy they first won two editions ago in 2016. However, Abahani had other plans as Mariners are being made to wait till their Super Five final match against Mohammedan SC on Saturday.

Following the dramatic encounter, Abahani finished on 39 points from 15 matches and leveled with Mariners, who played 14 games so far. Like Abahani, another title contender Mohammedan are still in with a chance, stationed at 33 points from 13 matches with two matches left against Sonali Bank and Mariners. If more than one team end up on equal points, then play-off matches will decide the title. If Mariners lose the next match to Mohammedan, the title race will be wide open again.

Back to the match, two early penalties saw Abahani lead through Bjorn Kellerman before Shohanur Rahman leveled the margin in the 15th minute. Shohanur struck again in the 17th minute but Mariners' lead lasted only eight minutes with Mahbub Hossain scoring a superb field goal. The first half goal-fest ended with 3-2 for Mariners as Shohanur struck through a penalty corner to complete his hat-trick. After resumption, Mariners did well to hold on to their lead but Khorshedur Rahman's brace from penalty corners in the final 60th minute gave Abahani a victory.