Star studded Muktijoddha Sang-sad Krira Chakra were dominated for most of the 90 minutes but

still got away with a point as league leaders Abahani Krira Chakra stayed well on course to regain the Star Premier Division football league title.

At the floodlit Dhaka Stadium last night, in front of a near-capatlty crowd, the hooters in azure attire created a number of openings in the crucial league encounter, nevertheless. ended the day without a goal to settle for one point.

The outcome of Yesterday's match stretches the DMFA Cup champions' unbeaten run to 14. which, translated into points, is 23 — three clear at the top from the Federation Cup winners, who maintained their second slot by virtue of the deadlock and now have 20 points also from 14 outings.

The second .match of the day at the big bowl was bound to be an entertaining affair and the heavy ground conditions mattered very little with both teams playing positive football.

Nazar All. who has already become crowd's favourite for this superb scoring prowess, drew the first blood in the very sixth minute of the match when theTraqf forward In sky blue cut in from right with a spectacular solo run and unleashed a thunderous right-footer from inside the box but thanks to Arun Bikash Dewan's amazing agility under the bar. Muktijoddha were off the hook. Arun, who replaced a' painfully out of form Mohsin, stretched to his left to parry

off Nazar's crack at goal for a comer.

Swapan. younger brother of former national striker Samrat Hossain Emily, was in the thick of action five minutes later when the hard-working midfielder let loose a scorching drive from the edge of the box only to find national defender Masud Rana heading the goal-bound ball over the bar from the line.

Five minutes inside the first half. Nazar All also saw his effort warded off from the goal line, but this time Raqlb. who had a busy day. shuttling from one end to another, got in the way of the Iraqi's power-packed volley from close.

The only time Muktijoddha came close to scoring was in the 21st minute of the proceedings. but Abahani captain Monem Munna's timely Intervention made up for a serious blunder on goalkeeper Dhanu's part. Dhanu couldn’t quite handle Raqib's curler from the left (lank- and had not Munna been there to back Dhanu up, Abahani would have been one down for no good reason.

With three clear chances thwarted one way or the other in the first 45 minutes, the Dhanmondi footballlsts came out fired up for a winner after the recess but barring of somewhat . total territorial dominance, they had very little to cheer about.

Although Abahani had the tempo of the match under control, they could create only one realistic chance in the second session.

Six minutes away from the final whistle, veteran Abahani striker Sheikh Mohammad Aslam's powerful header missed

the mark by Just a few Inches Muktijoddha. playing a rather defensive blend of soccer. quite contrary to the sup porters' expectations, also had one opening tn the 70th minute but Dhanu. who appeared somewhat shaky throughout the match this time, made no mistake in Judging a Raqib's header from a Masud Rana free kick making sure the result of the first leg clash between the two sides was repeated.

TEAMS

ABAHANI KC: Dhanu. Mansur. Munna. Sohel Reza. Partha. Jassim Mehdi. Swapan (Zakir). Vladimir. Gaus (Sha-mim). Nazar All (Mintoo) and Aslam. -

MUKTIJODDHA SANGSAD: Arun. Barun. Jewel, Ata. Masud Rana. Mamun (Kazi). Rumi. Arman. Rakib. Nakib and Mizan.

Referee: Kamaruddin (Malaysia).

The first match of the day. Involving two Star First Division teams, produced a similar result but the differ ence was in the attitude of the performers. /

League leaders Rahmatganj Muslim Friends Society and Farashganj Sporting Club played out a pre-arranged en oninter to maintain their position at the top-of the points table.

On completion of 16 matches. Rahmatganj have 22 points while Farashganj havq 20.

TODAY’S MATCHES

Arambagh KS vs War! Club 4-30 (Dhaka Stadium)

PWD vs Fakirerpool YMC 6-30 (Dhaka Stadium).