Police hold Brothers
Falling giants Brothers Union continued their spate of draws in the Bangladesh Premier League, surrendering a lead to play out a 1-1 draw against promoted Bangladesh Police FC in their home match at the Bangabandhu National Stadium yesterday.
It was the fourth draw in five matches for Brothers, who had also suffered a narrow 3-2 defeat against holders Bashundhara Kings. The draw left Brothers behind in eighth position with four points, one behind Bangladesh Police who moved up to seventh position.
Brothers, who came into the match on the back of a 1-1 draw against Uttar Baridhara, faced stiff challenge from Police and survived a close call.
Police came close to taking the lead in the fifth minute but Sidney Rivera, being set up by Luka Rotkovic, incredibly drove wide from inside the six-yard box before Brothers made them pay three minutes later when Jonov Otabek found the net with a 25-yard free-kick.
Police started pressing and a powerful header from Joyonto Kumar Roy off a corner from Khan Mohammad Tara was saved by Brothers goalkeeper Titumir Chowdhury, who however could not stop a close-range shot from SM Bablu in the 20th minute.
After resumption, the Gopibagh-based outfit looked better and exposed the opposition defence time and again. However, Police goalkeeper Saiful Islam Khan was solid under between the sticks, making at least three good saves. Brothers were deprived of the lead again in the 57th minute when Otabek saw his powerful shot from the right flank come off the crossbar.
Police, too, had a good opportunity in the dying minutes, but Antonio Laskov floated his shot over the crosspiece before Brothers saw their last effort thwarted by Saiful, who stopped a powerful shot from Otabek in his second effort.
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