Cash-rich Chittagong Abahani notched up their second win of the Independence Cup when they defeated a 10-man Uttar Baridhara Club 2-1 at the Bangabandhu National Stadium on Monday.
In the second match of the day, Sheikh Russell Krira Chakra defeated Rahmatganj MFS by the same margin with their Ethiopian marksman Fikru Teferra continuing his goal-scoring spree.
Winger Zahid Hossain was the star for Abahani, in an otherwise dull affair, by scoring once and providing another while Khalekuzzman Sabuj pulled one goal back for Baridhara in the dying minutes of the match.
With their second successive win, the Port City club brightened their semi-final hopes from Group A with six points, just three points behind leaders Sheikh Jamal DC, who have nine points from three matches.
On the other hand, the newly promoted Uttar Baridhara, were all but out of the competition with four successive defeats.
Uttar Baridhara were reduced to 10-man after just 12 minutes when Nigerian Kosoko Olasukanmi was given the marching order after his foul mouthed words towards referee Jalaluddin.
Despite playing with a one man advantage, the Port City outfit had to wait till the 49th minute to break the deadlock. An unmarked Zahid Hossain prodded the ball into the Baridhara net from a difficult angle. Zahid also played a hand in the team’s second goal in the 67th minute when he provided a neat through pass to Haitian marksman Fabrice Noel.
After getting the pass from Zahid, Noel rounded past goalkeeper Razib to make it 2-0.
Meanwhile, Fikru bagged his fifth goal of the competition and gave Russell the lead with a tap in the fifth minute before Cameroonian hitman Paul Emile doubled the margin with a low drive in the 15th minute.
-With New Age input
