Refereeing in focus as Kings survive Sheikh Jamal scare
League leaders Bashundhara Kings dropped their first points of the Bangladesh Premier League season yesterday, but they could consider themselves extremely lucky to have come out with a point in controversial circumstances in a goalless draw against title-challengers Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club at the Bangabandhu National Stadium.
The defending champions, who won all seven of their previous matches comfortably, came up against a Sheikh Jamal side determined to stop them in their tracks. The latter almost came up with a crucial victory, but for a disallowed goal right at the end of the match.
The match had very little goalmouth action, with neither side managing to effectively breach the other's defence. The one occasion that Sheikh Jamal thought they had successfully done that was when veteran winger Zahid Hossain, on as a second-half substitute, threaded a brilliant through ball for a galloping Pa Omar Jobe.
The Gambian forward, who has already scored eight times in the league, showed his composure as he wriggled past Kings defender Topu Barman before placing the ball at the far corner of the net past a diving Anisur Rahman at Kings goal.
Just as Jobe ran off to celebrate the goal -- a potential winner on 88 minutes, the referee blew his whistle, judging Jobe to have fouled Topu even as the assistant referee made no notion of any infringement.
This was a top-of-the-table clash and a lot was riding on the result, and understandably the Sheikh Jamal players and officials were furious at the decision.
"If there was any foul there, it should have been Topu committing the foul. The assistant referee, who had clear sight of the incident, pointed to a goal while the referee, who had his back to the incident, gave it as a foul," Sheikh Jamal coach Shafiqul Islam Manik told reporters after the match.
"Referees do make mistakes, but I think this one was intentional. We have a team worthy of fighting for the title but these types of decisions will surely have an impact on the race," the former national team player alleged.
Later Manik appeared at the press box with the club officials and read out a statement, saying that they would appeal against the decision and the overall standard of refereeing, reiterating that this particular decision was to undermine them in the title-race.
This was not the first time, though, that refereeing has been put on the dock during this league, with Bashundhara Kings having the rub of the green on more than one occasion, according to some coaches and officials.
While the result kept Kings firmly on top with 22 points from eight matches, Sheikh Jamal slipped to third position with 17 points from seven matches.
ABAHANI THE BIG GAINERS
The big beneficiaries of the result were six-time champions Abahani, who made up for some lost ground with a 4-0 win over Arambagh KS at the Birshreshtha Matiur Rahman Stadium in Munshiganj.
Francisco Torres scored twice in the first half before Masih Saighani and Dipok Roy scored two goals as the Sky Blues moved to second position with 18 points from eight matches, keeping Arambagh rooted at the bottom without a point from seven matches.
SAIF BEAT RUSSEL 2-1
Saif Sporting Club came from a goal down to beat Sheikh Russel 2-1 in the day's third match at the BNS.
Mohammad Abdullah had given Russel the lead in the 20th minute, but second-half goals from Riyadul Hasan Rafi and Sirojiuddin Rakhmatullaev helped Saif to a much-needed win, moving them to 13 points from seven matches in fifth position while Russel remained just above them with 16 points from eight matches.