High-scoring thriller in BPL

Chattogram Abahani survived a late scare against Uttar Baridhara Club before handing them a 4-3 defeat in a thrilling encounter of Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) at Birshreshtha Shaheed Mostafa Kamal Stadium yesterday.

The other match at Bangabandhu National Stadium saw Rahmatganj MFS repeat their first-leg performance to beat Brothers Union 2-0, thanks to Christ Remi and Felix Chidi who struck for Rahmatganj after a goalless first half.

Chattogram Abahani carried the momentum from their previous match – a  win over leaders Bashundhara Kings -- into the match and left the ground on a high, courtesy of a brilliant performance by Brazilian Nixon Guylherme.

Nixon first cancelled out Baridhara's 10-minute lead given by Evgeniy Kochnev with a header in the 23rd minute before giving the port city side a lead in the 43rd minute with a soft touch from Monaem Khan Raju's assist.

Further ahead, he had set up Nigerian Chinedew Mathew for the third goal in the 50th minute while Baridhara defender Saiddoston Fazilov struck his own net while attempting to clear Rakib Hossain's cut-back in the 59th minute.

Later, Suman Reza and substitute Maruf Ahmed struck in the 67th and 80th minute respectively but eventually failed to find the equaliser. Overall, 10 victories took Chattogram Abahani to the fourth position of the 13-team table while Rahmatganj, Baridhara and Brothers Union resided at the ninth, 10th and 12th positions, respectively.  

Previously, BPL had resumed at two separate venues after a 14-day break following the Eid-ul-Adha and Lockdown.