Abahani extend record title-haul

Abahani confirmed their sixth title of the Bangladesh Premier League with a game in hand following a 2-0 victory over fellow title-aspirants Sheikh Jamal DC in their penultimate round fixture at the Bangabandhu National Stadium yesterday.

Nasiruddin Chowdhury gave Abahani the lead in the first half before Sunday Chizoba scored deep into stoppage time of the second half to help the Sky Blues take an unassailable lead at the top of the league table. The Dhanmondi giants have 51 points from 21 matches while their neighbours and nearest rivals Sheikh Jamal have 47 points from the same number of matches.

The title-triumph is all the more praiseworthy for the Sky Blues, who have forged a nine-match winning streak, having ended the first leg of the league in third position.

The Abahani team management had to make some alterations to their starting eleven due to the suspensions of defender Wali Faisal and winger Rubel Mia. They opted to field striker Emeka Darlington alongside Sunday while sacrificing defender Samad Yussif while reserve-bench player Atiqur Rahman Fahad took Wali's place as the defensive midfielder.

However, it was their close-door neighbours Sheikh Jamal who launched the first few attacks through the right flank, with attacking duo Raphael Odoyin and Solomon King playing up front. Javed Khan initially put threatening crosses from the right for the striking duo, who shared 30 goals between them so far, but they could not expose Abahani's solid defence marshalled by Nasir, Tutul Hossain Badsha, Raihan Hasan and makeshift defender Saad Uddin.

Abahani, however, grew in confidence to take control of the midfield as Sunday and Emeka threatened with their daunting runs around the opposition box. The Sky Blues finally broke the deadlock in the 23rd minute after a nice exchange of passes between Emon Babu and Sohel Rana, with the latter dancing past a defender before chipping one from outside the box for Nasir to head home at near post.

Sheikh Jamal looked dead and buried with Odoyin, who had taken the club towards title contention with 15 goals in the last 10 matches, looking off-colour in face of tough marking from Abahani defenders.

The three-time champions almost conceded a second goal in the 28th minute when Emeka played on Saad on the right and the left-back whipped in a low cross which narrowly missed the target after having taken a deflection off defender Khan Mohammad Tara.

Sheikh Jamal built up an attack in the 39th minute when Javed Khan ran down the right flank to release a low cross for Odoyin, who back-heeled it to Solomon inside the box but the Gambian attacker saw his close-range shot blocked by Saad.     

After resumption, it was Abahani who created two good opportunities to widen the margin but Emeka drove wide of the target from inside the six-yard box while Sunday floated one over the crossbar inside the box in the 57th minute.

The Nigerian marksman however, made amends five minutes into stoppage time with the second goal of the game, having exchanged passes with Emeka and Sohel before dancing past Tara to curl home from inside the box.

The Abahani fans rushed in jumping over the boundary walls after the goal as referee Mizanur Rahman had to take a minute off to restart the game before bowing the final whistle.