Wedson, Emeka power Sk Jamal

Wedson Anselme and Emeka Darlington scored a brace each as defending champions Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club thrashed Chittagong Abahani 4-0 at the Bangabandhu National Stadium yesterday to regain the sole lead in the Manyavar Bangladesh Premier League.

The most lethal striking duo of Dhaka football scene ensured a convincing victory with four goals in the second half after the port city side had managed to keep their mighty opponents at bay for the first half of the match. The win took Sheikh Jamal to 12 points from four matches, three ahead of second-placed Muktijoddha Sangsad, who will have the opportunity to join the leaders when they take on title contenders Sheikh Russel KC today.

That Sheikh Jamal failed to break the deadlock in the first half owed to the compact defensive play from the port city side, who were hardly threatened, except for a Landing Darboe free-kick, which rattled the upright on the half-hour mark.

The break came five minutes after the restart when Wedson, the top-scorer of last season, comfortably tapped home after Darlington had chested down a cross from Darboe onto his path.

The Haitian doubled the lead in the 73rd minute, which took his tally for the league to four goals alongside top-scorer Szabolcs Csorba of Abahani, with a smashing volley after having chested down a cross from Mohammad Linkon.

Emeka then joined in on the act, scoring twice within the next five minutes, as the wheels fell off for Chittagong Abahani. The Nigerian grabbed the third goal of the game in the 75th minute with a placing shot on a cutback from Darboe before driving an angular shot to complete the rout two minutes later. The two goals put the Nigerian alongside Wedson and Csorba for a three-way leaderboard.

Wedson later said that despite having squandered at least eight scoring opportunities in four matches, he would try go try to score better than one-a-game this season.

“I don't know whether I can surpass the number of goals I scored (26 in 27 matches) last season, but this time I have set my target to go beyond 20 goals in 20 matches,” said the Haitian.