South Americans do it again for Kings
Braces from Argentina's Raul Becerra and Brazil's Robson Da Silva led leaders Bashundhara Kings to an emphatic 4-0 win over Sheikh Russel in a Bangladesh Premier League encounter at the Shaheed Dhirendranath Datta Stadium in Cumilla yesterday.
With a tenth triumph from 11 outings, the defending champions consolidated their lead at the top. Their tally of 31 points is nine more than second-placed Abahani, who have a game in hand. Meanwhile, Sheikh Russel remain glued to fourth place with 17 points from 10 matches.
Sheikh Russel were helpless against the leaders despite a creditable 1-1 draw against six-time champions Abahani in their previous game.
Spanish coach Oscar Bruzon's charges took only 23 minutes to break the deadlock, Becerra putting them ahead before Robson doubled the margin in the 42nd minute with a powerful volley off a well-judged cross from Towhidul Alam Sabuz.
After resumption, Kings added two more goals. Becerra scored his ninth league goal in the 74th minute and Robson surpassed Sheikh Jamal's Omar Jobe as the league's top scorer with his 12th strike of the campaign to wrap up the victory.
At the Bangabandhu National Stadium, Saif SC came from behind to hand a 2-1 defeat to Uttar Baridhara Club, who came into the match on the back of five straight draws.
Visiting Baridhara looked determined to turn the tables and stunned their superior opponents by opening the scoring in the 20th minute. Uzbek midfielder Evgeniy Kochnev played Arif Hossain into the box down the right and the winger brilliantly turned around before mustering an angled left-footed shot past goalkeeper Sushanta Kumar.
Saif SC, who lost 2-1 to Kings in the previous match, looked hungrier after conceding and came close to equalising twice but Arifur Rahman's effort was parried by keeper Mitul Marma, who was then lucky that a powerful left-footed drive from Faisal Ahmed Fahim narrowly missed the target on the half-hour mark.
Just one minute from break, Saif equalised through Nigeria's John Okoli before substitute Sazzad Hossain headed home a diving header, helping them jump to fifth place with 16 points from 10 matches.
Comments