Kings perfect, Abahani resurgent
Holders Bashundhara Kings continued their perfect record in the Bangladesh Premier League with a hard-fought 1-0 win over Chattogram Abahani at the Bangabandhu National Stadium yesterday.
Mahbubur Rahman Sufil scored the decisive goal in the second half to drive Kings to their sixth straight win, helping the Federation Cup champions to move to 18 points, four ahead of second-placed Abahani.
Bashundhara Kings took to the field on the back of morale-boosting 4-1 win over Mohammedan in Cumilla, but they faced stiff challenge from Chattogram Abahani, who threatened to snatch points despite playing with a depleted squad featuring only two foreign players.
The first half was an even contest, with both sides creating a couple of chances before Kings took the lead in the 61st minute when Sufil nodded home a well-judged corner from Jonathan Fernandes.
Chattogram Abahani had a shout for a handball turned down five minutes later when the ball hit Tapu Barman's hand off a back-header from teammate Rimon Hossain but referee Jashim Atker overlooked the incident. Winger Rakib Hossain wasted a good chance to level the margin in the 71st minute as he failed to muster a proper shot, with only Kings' goalkeeper Anisur Rahman Zico to beat.
Kings also had two good chances to increase their lead but Sufil and Robson Da Silva drove wide on both occasions.
Uttar Baridhara hold Mohammedan
Since their success in the opening match against Arambagah, a win has eluded Mohammedan in the past five matches as the Black and Whites came from behind to play out a goalless draw against lowly Uttar Baridhara Club at the Shaheed Ahsan Ullah Master Stadium in Tongi yesterday.
Smarting from a 4-1 drubbing at the hands of holders Bashundhara Kings in the previous match, Mohammedan survived a scare before leaving the field with their third draw in six outings.
Uzbek forward Evgeniy Kochvey converted a spot kick to give Baridhara the lead in the 18th minute after Saiddoston Fozilov was brought down by a Mohammedan defender while Malian forward Souleymane Diabate levelled the margin from the spot in the stoppage time of the first half after defender Papon Singh handled the ball inside the box while attempting to clear a shot from Uryu Nagata.
Arif Hossain put the ball in the back of Mohammedan's net in the 64th minute, but referee Bhuban Mohan Tarafder ruled it to be off-side.
Abahani back to winning ways
After successive draws against Mohammedan and Chattogram Abahani, six-time champions Abahani returned to winning ways with an emphatic 4-1 win over Muktijoddha Sangsad at Bangabandhu National Stadium last night.
Despite struggling to retain their lead against Mohammedan and Chattogram Abahani in previous matches, the Sky Blues hardly faced any trouble to score two goals in each half of the match. Poor goalkeeping from Muktijoddha's Mahfuz Hasan Pritom helped Abahani's cause.
Masih Saighani scored twice while Sohel Rana and substitute Dipok Roy netted one goal each for Abahani while Sarwar Jaman Nipu pulled one goal back for Muktijoddha Sangsad.
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