Holders Abahani maintained their supremacy over a 10-man Brothers Union after edging a tense encounter with a 1-0 scoreline in the Grameenphone Bangladesh League at the Birshreshtha Mostafa Kamal Stadium in Kamalapur yesterday.
Ghanaian midfielder Twum Frank separated the sides by striking his fourth league goal on 60 minutes in a game that was marked by physical tousles among players. A player and a club official were sent off and there were heated exchanges among players, officials and cops after a police official hurled abuse toward Abahani manager and former national player Satyajit Das Rupu.
Their third straight win in six matches means that the Sky Blues take the lead for the first time in the 12-team table with 13 points, one less than Muktijoddha Sangsad, who today play their sixth game against giants Mohammedan SC.
In the past, both sides had served up a number of classic battles and the seventh meetings between them in the professional league was also entertaining though the first half was marked by excess physicality with referee Hannan Miron forced to book four players.
Abahani were the better side in the first half and produced three scoring chances as striker Shahkawat Hossain Rony was put as a lone striker with Ghanaian duo Awudu Ibrahim and Twum Frank playing behind Rony. But the Sky Blues could not avail any of those chances and Rony squandered a number of presentable opportunities.
Abahani even failed to cash in on an open net after Brothers Union goalkeeper Mitul Hasan was put down outside the box to restrict Abahani’s match-winner Frank on the half-hour mark and the goalkeeper was forced to leave the field with an injury.
After the resumption, Brothers pressed Abahani with their crisp movements and flank attacks and the pressure almost paid off for them when Bitcha Richard hit a shot straight at Abahani goalkeeper Shohel in the 48th minute while their Argentine midfielder Rafael Vivaldo floated one over the crossbar from inside the box on 69 minutes.
But Abahani launched a quick counter-attack to find the decider in the very next minute.
Frank’s initial header into the box was cleared by a Brothers defender but the Ghanaian pounced on the rebound with a dipping drive from 30 yards out that crashed into the back of the net.
On 71 minutes, Rony thought he had doubled the margin for Abahani but the goal was ruled out for offside and Abahani assistant coach Jhantu reportedly hurled abusive words toward the assistant referee resulting in him being sent off by referee Hannan Miron.
Four minutes later, Brothers substitute goalkeeper Sabuj Das Ragu brought Frank down outside the box in a one-on-one situation and thus was sent off but the supporters of Brothers Union threw chairs from the second floor into the ground to halt the game for five minutes.
Brothers’ Argentine midfielder Danilo stood under the post to complete the game but there was no way back for the Gopibagh outfit.
