Defending champions Sheikh Russell suffered a shock 2-1 defeat against Team BJMC in their Bangladesh Premier League match at the Bangabandhu National Stadium on Friday.
Though a week ago Russell created history by becoming the first Bangladeshi team to qualify for the final round of the AFC Presidents Cup, they have continued their struggle in the league.
This was their second consecutive defeat and they still remained winless in the league under their Montenegrin coach Dragan Gjukanovic.
On the other hand, this was a relief for BJMC as they tasted a win after three consecutive defeats.
The win put BJMC in sixth place of the table with 18 points from 16 matches while Russell’s decline continued as they remain in seventh place with 16 points from 13
matches.
BJMC came from behind to manage the victory, thanks to their two foreign players, Ismail Bangoura and Samson Illiasu, after Mohammad Robin’s 23rd-minute opener for Russell.
Russell keeper Biplob produced a number of saves to deny BJMC a bigger-margin win.
Robin put Russell ahead in the 23rd minute as the former national team striker sent the ball home past BJMC keeper Arifuzzaman Himel from a Mithun Chowdhury pass from just outside the box.
BJMC, however, returned to the match in the 40th minute as their Guinean striker Ismael Bangoura placed the ball into the far post after colleting a through pass from Saiful Islam.
After the resumption, Russell tried hard to get full three points as their coach made some replacements, bringing on Haitian Pascal Millien and Serbian Miroslav Savanovic, but failed to make any difference.
Mithun wasted a golden opportunity in the 57th minute when the national forward headed Pascal’s cross from over the bar from the six-yard box.
A minute later, Samson Iliasu sealed the victory for BJMC by heading in a cross from Ismael Bangoura from the right-flank.
-With New Age input
