MSC bag charity series
Beat Abahani again on penalties
Sports Reporter
|
Mohammedan footballers celebrate their victory over Abahani in the charity football series after Ripon Khan (not in picture) scored the decisive goal in the tiebreaker at the Bangabandhu National Stadium yesterday. Photo: STAR |
Guest goalkeeper Aminul Haque saved two penalties as Mohammedan Sporting Club produced another tiebreaker win against Abahani yesterday to lift the Teletalk Best of Three charity series 2-1.
In a repeat of the opening match, Mohammedan outplayed their archrivals 4-2 in the penalty shootout after a scoreless 90 minutes in the third and final match at the Bangabandhu National Stadium.
Mohammedan won 5-4 on penalties in the first match before Abahani restored parity in the series with a 2-1 victory.
After an aggregate 14,000 turnout on the first two days, around 15,000 fans enjoyed the series finale, which meant the Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) is likely to raise a fund near Tk 10 lakh -- inclusive of Teletalk's Tk three lakh sponsorship -- for victims of Cyclone Sidr.
The BFF's initial target was to see houseful crowd on each of the three days but it failed to even sell a total of 33,000 tickets -- the official capacity of the venue.
The result in the end, would give the black and whites some solace to end the season after finishing runners-up to winners Abahani in this year's lone competition -- the B. League.
It were the sky-blues who began brightly with Emily and Robin showing great skill up front. Still, Abahani missed the experience of guest striker Moni, who was absent due to a hamstring injury that saw him limp off the ground early in the previous game.
The Abahani duo, however, failed to put Aminul to the real test due to lack of finishing. Emily though, found the net in the 16th minute, but the goal was disallowed for a foul picked up by the referee's assistant.
Abahani won numerous corners without any avail against a tight five-man backline while Waly Faisal failed to keep his freekick from 25 yards under the bar as their opposition gained momentum after the half hour.
read more