Dhaka Abahani stay in title race with win over Chattogram Abahani

Federation Cup and Independence Cup champions Dhaka Abahani kept their title hopes alive in the 12-team Bangladesh Premier League (BPL), beating Chattogram Abahani 3-2 at the Shaheed Direndranath Dutta Stadium in Cumilla on Tuesday, reports news agency UNB.

With the day’s hard-fought victory, six times BPL champions Dhaka Abahani stayed in the league race with 38 points from 17 matches.

They are second position behind league leaders Bashundhara Kings, who have secured 44 points from the same number of games.

Chattogram Abahani Limited remained at 5th slot with 26 points from 17 games, with Mohammedan Sporting Club breathing down their necks with 25 points.

In the day’s match, Dorielton Gomes struck twice and Nurul Naium Faisal netted one goal for the sky-blue outfits.

The team from the port city fought hard, with their Afghan midfielder Omid Popalzay and Nigerian forward Peter Thankgod scoring one goal each, but their efforts didn’t earn them any points.

Omid put Chattogram Abahani ahead in the 32nd minute but Brazilian forward Gomes levelled the margin for Dhaka Abahani just two minutes later.

Thankgod once again put the port city team ahead in the 40th minute from the penalty spot.

Chattogram Abahani went into half-time with a 2-1 lead. But holding on against Dhaka Abahani’s relentless attacks became difficult for them one their Nigerian booter Candy Augustine Agbane got his marching orders in the 57th minute.

The 10-man Chattogram Abahani held onto the lead till the 71st minute before Gomes once again equalised for Dhaka Abahani.

Local forward Nurul scored the match-winning goal for Dhaka Abahani in the 78th minute.

In the day’s other match, newcomers and bottom-placed Swadhinata KS caused an upset by beating the formidable Saif Sporting Club by 2-1 goals at the Bir Shreshtho Matiur Rahman Stadium in Munshiganj on Tuesday.

After a barren first half, Nigerian forward Emeka Ogbugh scored first for Saif SC in the 58th minute while Zillur Rahman restored the parity for Swadhinata KS in the 67th minute.

Serbian medio Ivan Maric scored the match-winner for Swadhinata KS in the 85th minute from a penalty.

Meanwhile, at the Sheikh Fazlul Haque Moni Stadium in Gopalganj, the match between Rahmatganj MFS and Uttar Baridhara Club ended in a 1-1 draw.

After goalless 79 minutes, Nigerian forward Sunday Chizoba scored for the old Dhaka outfit Rahmatganj MFS in the 80th minute.

Uttar Baridhara’s defender Youssouf Mory Bamba of Ivory Coast made it 1-1 in the second minute of stoppage time.