National striker Mithun Chowdhury scored a brace while his skipper Rajani Kanta Barman netted one as Muktijoddha Sangsad Krira Chakra went top of the Bangladesh League with a 3-0 thrashing of table-toppers Sheikh Russell KC at the Kamalapur stadium on Monday.
Muktijoddha now have 12 points in their tally while Sheikh Russell slipped to second with 10.
Russell, who were the only unbeaten team in the competition before this match, were looking confident until they conceded the first goal in the 18th minute because of a misjudgment by their goalkeeper Mamun Khan. He advanced to grab the ball from a free-kick by his counterpart Biplob Bhattacharjee and an opportunist Mithun headed in just before Mamun reached it.
Russell’s coach Mahmudul Haque Liton also said the first goal was the turning point of the match. ‘My players were in the match before they conceded the first goal. That nasty one just changed the course of the match,’ he said.
The second goal came from a set-piece as well. Rajani headed home a right-hand side free-kick from their Argentine midfielder Luciano Ariel in the half-hour mark.
Mithun scored his sixth goal of the league from substitute Alamgir Kabir Rana’s square pass in the last minute of the match with a fierce shot from the middle of the box. Russell, however, could not trouble their opponents very much though they went all-out at the closing stages of the game. Russell’s Moroccan recruit Samir Omari found the ball inside the six-yard box two minutes before the final whistle but his shot was fisted away by Muktijoddha keeper Biplob.
