Defending champions Sheikh Russell KC drew their third consecutive match in the Bangladesh Premier Football League after their tie with Abahani Limited ended in a stalemate at Bangabandhu National Stadium on Monday. Table-topper Abahani, on the other hand, dropped points for the first time after four successive wins. With 17 points from seven matches, Abahani top the table while Sheikh Russell are third with 12 points from eight matches.
Both sides introduced new faces in their line-up. Sheikh Russell played their newly-recruited Haitian forward Pascal Millien while Abahani dropped Ghanaian Osei Morrison and picked Cameroonian striker Ekele Patrick.
In their very first match, Millien failed to do justice to his name while Patrick orchestrated some entertaining moves.
Millien struggled in the field due to a lack of assistance from his teammates as Sheikh Russell were unable to take control of midfield.
The Sky Blues were also insipid in midfield and badly missed the services of Morrison who was unavailable due to a knee injury.
Millien tried a few shots from distance but all his efforts were safely parried away by the Abahani goalkeeper.
Patrick on the contrary came closest to breaking the deadlock in the
27th minute when he received a lobbed pass from defender Atiqur Rahman Meshu. Patrick dribbled past a defender and fired an angular shot which was punched away by Sheikh Russell custodian Biplob for a corner.
Right before the interval, Abahani almost went ahead through Ghanaian Awudu Ibrahim who headed inches over the crossbar following a Towhidul Alam cross from the left flank.
After resumption, Sheikh Russell also came close to scoring themselves when their Uruguayan midfielder Pascal laid a square pass for Robin. Robin’s powerful strike though, from 20 yards, flew over the crossbar.
-With New Age input
