Federation Cup and Independence Cup winners Sheikh Russel KC inched closer to their third silverware of the season as they shrugged off a dogged Arambagh 2-1 in their Grameenphone Bangladesh Premier League encounter at the Bangabandhu National Stadium yesterday.
Haitian hitman Sony Norde and national striker Zahid Hasan Emily gave Sheikh Russel a 2-0 lead in the first half, but bottom-placed side came back strongly with a strike from Moniruzzaman Mamun in the second half that gave Sheikh Russel some nervy moments towards the end.
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The tenth win in 14 matches took Sheikh Russel (32 points) three points clear of second-placed Abahani (29 points from 14 matches) and they will need only four points from their last two matches, one of which is against Sheikh Jamal DC, who are in third position with 28 points from 13 matches.
Sony gave threatened the Arambagh goal from the beginning from his unusual left-wing position, and gave Sheikh Russel the lead in the 17th minute when he collected a chip from Mithun Chowdhury and raced past a defender before placing the ball home through the left- side of Arambagh goalkeeper Masud Rana.
Emily, the scorer of the winning goal in the final of the Independence Cup, doubled the lead in the 36th minute when he was presented with a chip from the midfield and the national striker shrugged off his marker Abu Oludotun Paul to send the ball over advancing goalkeeper Masud.
Arambagh came back strongly after the restart and Mamun reduced the arrears by firing in a cross from Sabuj Kumar from inside the danger zone in the 56th minute. Arambagh threatened to equalise as two of their moves opened up the Sheikh Russel backline but their forwards failed to cash in on those chances. Sheikh Russel’s shaky backline somehow survived the late onslaught to ensure three crucial points.
Meanwhile, in the first match of the day, Mohammedan SC defeated Muktijoddha Sangsad 1-0, thanks to a late strike from Mezbabul Haque Manik. The win took Mohammedan’s tally to 24 points from 15 matches as they consolidated their position at fourth.
Mohammedan came into the match with a bitter memory of a 4-1 drubbing at the hands of Muktijoddha Sangsad in the first leg in Gopalganj. Mohammedan exacted the revenge with a slim-margin win, but they hardly dominated a side which has been trouble-hit of late, as the Muktijoddha players went on strike in demand of unpaid wages before returning to the training session just two days before the match.
The Black and Whites though held the upperhand and yielded a few scoring chances but Ghanaian hitman Osei Morison squandered at least three of those chances.
But Morison finally redeemed himself in the 62nd minute when he played a neat cut-back to Manik, who coolly tapped in between two Muktijoddha defenders to score the winning goal.
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