A brace from Shakhawat Hossain Rony powered holders Abahani to an emphatic 4-1 win over giant-killers Rahmatganj MFS in their Bangladesh League match at the Birshreshtha Mostafa Kamal Stadium in Kamalapur yesterday.
Apart from Rony’s double, Ghanaian recruit Twum Frank and Awudu Ibrahim struck one goal each for the Sky Blues while Nigerian Paulmcjames pulled one goal back for the old Dhaka outfit.
The three wins in five matches means Abahani join Sheikh Russel KC on the top with 10 points while Rahmatganj stick to their previous seven from five outings to stay at fifth place in the 12-team table.
Rahmatganj MFS on the back of a stunning 2-0 win over giants Mohammedan SC adopted a defensive strategy to hold defending champions Abahani till the first-half, which was insipid as Abahani looked disorganized in midfield and purposeless going forward.
After the resumption, Abahani sent on left-back Linkon in place of Arup that virtually handed the momentum of the game as the left-back started to penetrate the opponents with his well-judged runs and crossing ability.
And Abahani got the dividends from the substitution five minutes into the second half.
Linkon played Ibrahim in down the right flank and the Ghanaian marksman chipped the ball for his compatriot Frank, who saw his first effort cleared by a Rahmatganj defender before burying the rebound to give the Dhanmondi-based outfit the lead.
Gradually Abahani established their control in the midfield and doubled the margin in comical circumstances. Awudu chipped the ball for Shahwakat Hossain Rony but the ball found the back of the Rahmatganj net after bouncing in front of the goalkeeper Arifuzzaman Himel, who was seemingly trying to restrict Rony.
Abahani looked a bit relaxed after two strikes and Rahmatganj bit back in the 69th minute as Idris Karisya played a square pass to Paul, whose shot found the far post after taking a deflection from Abahani defender Samad Yousuf.
But, Abahani again upped the tempo and scored two more goals inside six minutes. First, Awudu and Siraji played one-two to go down the right before Siraji whipped in a brilliant cross for Rony, who flicked a header past substitute goalkeeper Iran Sheikh.
And just a few minutes later, the new goalkeeper once again failed to stop the same hitman, who put the ball in after dodging past two defenders.
It was Rony’s third goal in only his second match.
After taking a comfortable lead, Abahani brought two more chances with striker Mohammad Robin coming on for his debut after joining the Sky Blues last season. Robin missed the whole of last season and the Federation Cup of the current season due to persistent knee injuries.
