Defending ch ampions Abahani Krira Chakra suffered a severe blow in the on-going Life-
bnoy Primer Division football league jtyhen an spirited Va 11 Krira Sangha held ihenr to a 1-1 draw in an exciting encounter at the llood-llt Dhaka Stadium on Friday.
The high voltage drama was also marked by crowd violence for the first time in this season which disrupted the proceedings for about 17 minutes.
Hell broke out in the 80th minute when the Malaysian referee flashed the dreaded red card against Abahani's Romanian midfielder Gheorghe Christian for a nasty tackle on Shoaib of Arambagh
The decision prompted a sharp reaction at the sky-blue tent as well as in the eastern gallery with almost all the Abahani booters and a couple of unidentified officials vehemently protesting the ruling.
At one stage, some even pushed the referee in the middle of th,e pitch while at ,lhe ^ffety the agitated Abahani fans pelted stones at the pitch before engaging in a battle with the opposing supporters. The situation came under control following intervention by the law-enforcing agency and the match resumed with Abahani fielding ten-men.
Both sides were locked in a one-all draw at the time of disruption in the match.
Apart from the sad incident'. the match was a fairly contested one with Arambagh. after a barren first half, taking the lead in the 48th minute through their Russian striker Matbiev.
The unheralded Russian.
who was ignored by Abahani on his arrival in the capital a couple of months ago. served the stunner with a cool placing shot after being fed by mid-fielder Yousuf deep inside the Ahahani box.
Arainbagh s joy was however short-lived as Abahani pulled off the equalizer six minutes later with Christian celebrating his maiden goal in die league, with a spectacu-
lar side volley.
Rejuvenated by the equalizer. Abahani picked up the iempo and almost got the lead in the 59th minute. But the planned move was s|X>llt by Lorenzo, the other Romanian recruit of the Dhanmondi outfit, who with the Aram-bagh custodian Shimul at his mercy shot the ball wide off the mark, much to the horror of his teammates.
In the 72nd minute Abahani's inspirational captain Monem Munna. who had earlier played the sheet anchor role in many of his side's victories, wasted another chance of a lead when he failed to judge a defence-splitting through from Russian mid-fielder Sergei.
But. the easiest opportunity for the sky blues came by their diminutive midfielder Swapan. who unnecessary delayed to shoot into an open net before defender -Faisal saved Arambagh with a brilliant sliding tackle in the for-
bidden zone. Although Aba- i haul booters led by Munna | appealed for a penalty. It was ’ over ruled by the referee.
On the other hand. Arambagh. who recorded a sensational 2-1 win over Mukti-Joddha Sangsad In their previous match, almost pulled off yet another memorable win had not Matbiev s pile-driver from the top of the box been denied by the wood-work In the 86th minute.
The draw now leaves Abahani with 33 points from 15 league engagements while Arambagh raised their collection to 15 points from as many matches.
Red Card: Christian (Abahani' KC)
Yellow Card: Sergei and Swapan (Abahani KC): Yousuf. Tushar and Soyeb (Arambagh KSI TEAMS
ABAHANI KC: Dhanu Mamun. Sohel Reza. Partha. Mansur Alt. Sergei. Christian. Jahangir (Swapan). Munna. Lorenzo (Jamal) and Aslam.
ARAMABAGH KC: Shi mul. Pradip. Chhotan. Faisal. Anwar. Yousuf. Tushar. Min-haz Babu. Jahangir. Matbiev and Shoaib.
Referee: Halim Abdul Hamid (Malaysia).
Earlier, in the day's other Premier Division match at the same venue. Youngmen s Club Fakir.erpool chalked up their seventh win after beating lowly Farashganj SC by 2-0 goals.
Both the goals came in the second half.
Prolific scorer Asif Yousuf who scored five goals in previous matches, nodded home from a corner in the 60th minute to put Youngmen's in the lead while Arif Mamun settled the match in 86th minute.
Youngmen’s have 24 points while Farashganj have 10 at the end of 14 matches.