Ctg Abahani breeze past Rahmatganj
Chattogram Abahani registered back-to-back victories in the Bangladesh Premier League with a 2-0 win over Rahmatganj MFS at the Bangabandhu National Stadium yesterday.
Nigerian forward Chinedu Mathew put the port city side ahead in the first half before substitute Mannaf Rabbi wrapped up the victory to deliver the team's fourth victory in 10 matches, helping them to fifth position with 15 points.
Rahmatganj, on the other hand, remained in ninth position in the 13-team table with eight points from nine matches.
The charges of Maruful Haque had made a good start in the league but they failed to keep the momentum after losing to former champions Sheikh Russel KC and defending champions Bashundhara Kings, which were followed by draws against Abahani, Uttar Baridhara Club and Bangladesh Police.
However, they have started to show some consistency since the previous match, which they won 1-0 against Brothers Union. The port city side carried that form into yesterday's match where they were hardly troubled by the Old Dhaka outfit.
Chattogram Abahani took only seven minutes to break the deadlock when national winger Rakib Hossain put a forward-pass for Mathew, who advanced into the box to shrug off his marker Nahidul Islam before placing a left-footer at the near post.
With Egyptian defender Alaaedin Nasr thwarting a spate of Chattogram Abahani attacks, Rahmatganj came close to levelling the margin in the 33rd minute but Christ Remi's header on a corner from Mahmudul Hasan Kiran narrowly missed the target.
In both halves, Chattogram Abahani earned corner kicks but they could not cash in on those opportunities while Uzbek defender Shukuar Ali took some free-kicks either side of the break, barely troubling Rahmatganj goalkeeper Rasel Mahmud Liton.
However, the former national goalkeeper was helpless when substitute Rabbi volleyed home from close range following a nice exchange of passes between Nixon Guylherme and Mathew outside the box.
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