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Russell keep it alive

SPORTS REPORTER
Season's sensation Sheikh Russell Krira Chakra ensured a
nervy climax to the Western Union Premier Division football league when they smashed runaway leaders Brothers Union's unbeaten streak at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur yesterday.
A 51st minute strike from Moroccan forward Abdul Al Hadi was the difference in the evening's absorbing game and that left the race for the title still very much alive despite Brothers having a five-point advantage over second-placed Russell with two matches in hand.
A win or for Brothers in any of those games or draws in both will land them a long cherished first league title. The problem is that the Gopibagh big-spenders are up against giants Abahani and Muktijoddha Sangsad and the memories of 1985 will definitely haunt them. That was the year when Brothers only needed a draw in their final encounter against Abahani but instead saw a Sheikh Mohammad Aslam-inspired Sky Blues come back from 2-0 down to win 3-2. Since that fateful miss, the men in orange have never got that close to the championship until this year when they broke the bank to collect virtually all the top names in local football.
Russell will enjoy the scenario better as they have already achieved much more than what anyone expected of them including themselves. The newcomers increased their tally to 32 points from 16 games after Wednesday's win and are firm favourites against their last two opponents in the league -- lowly Badda Jagarani and Dhaka Wanderers Club. If they notch up full points and Brothers don't get two then the young team from Uttara will be crowned league champions, a prospect that excites veteran coach Wajed Gazi.
"Anything can happen now. However I'm happy with what we
have managed to do in our first season. We played like champions so it will not be unfair if we win the title. But we will keep our fingers crossed during Brothers' matches," said Gazi after the match.
On the other hand Brothers were still upbeat despite going down for the first time in the championship.
"We are disappointed but not unduly worried as we only need one victory in the remaining fixtures. We are hopeful of settling the issue in the next match," said Brothers manager Amer Khan.
But Khan's confidence was not visible in his team's performance. Rather it was the spirited Russell booters who dominated from the start. Fresh from their wins against Abahani and Muktijoddha, Russell showed no let up from the tempo and could have gone ahead as early as in the 14th minute had linesman Mahbubur Rahman not ruled out a goal when Younes put the ball in the net.
The tall Moroccan striker headed home from a Kamal cross and it looked like a perfectly legitimate strike but Mahbubur raised his flag indicating that the ball had crossed the goalline before Kamal delivered it.
It looked as if Russell were fighting against the odds as referee Hannan Miron was amazingly generous with Brothers and awarded them no less than half dozen free-kicks after Russell took the lead. At the same time, Miron was oblivious of the constant rough challenges on the Russell players.
But Wajed Gazi's charges rallied on and all four Moroccan recruits were on song much to the dismay of the nearly two thousand Brothers supporters who had gone to the stadium in a festive mood expecting to celebrate winning the league for the first time.
After the barren first half, the tireless Hadi found himself unmarked outside the box from a long free-kick taken by compatriot Burdif Mohammed. Hadi entered the danger zone leaving two Brothers
defenders in his wake and unleashed a left-footed blinder that thudded into custodian Biplob's gloves and came out. Fortunately Hadi followed up top send in a rebounder.
Brothers regrouped after the goal. Defender Nazrul headed an Arman corner which missed the target by inches. Russian striker Victor was almost on the scoresheet eight minutes from time but his powerful left-footer went out kissing the far post.
The match got ugly in the closing stages when Brothers' Bangladesh international Nazrul punched Younes in an off the ball incident but surprisingly Miron and his assistants preferred to overlook it.
Yellow cards: Francis and Liton (Brothers), Azam Biplob and Rezaul Karim (Russell).
TEAMS
Sheikh Russell: Azam Biplob, Kamal, Narayan, Burdif, Rezaul, Jahangir, Asif, Nurul Islam, Abdel, Hadi and Younes.
Brothers Union: Biplob, Nazrul, Francis, Parvez Babu, Sujan, Arman, Iqbal, Liton, Alfaz (Gomez), Victor and Constantine.
Referee: Hannan Miron.
WANDERERS-1;
VICTORIA-0
Earlier, a 72nd minute goal by Jahangir Alam enabled Dhaka Wanderers Club to earn an important solitary goal victory against Victoria Sporting Club at the same venue.
The result pulled Wanderers almost out of the threat of relegation as they increased their tally to 18 points. On the other hand Victoria are living dangerously on 14 points from 15 matches.
SEE PAGE 14 COL 8 FROM PAGE 13
After a goalless first half, Jahangir executed a curling free-kick from the top of the box that left Victoria custodian Raju helpless.
Meanwhile, Abahani and Mohammedan coasted to easy wins against down and out Dhanmondi Club and Badda Jagarani respectively on Tuesday.
The Sky Blues thrashed their neighbours 5-1.
Midfielder Joy struck twice while Ujjal, Parvez and Sandro scored once each. Agu netted consolation for Dhanmondi.
A Farhad hattrick powered Mohammedan to a 5-0 drubbing of Badda. The Black and Whites other goals came through Farhad, Etigo.
Abahani bagged 27 points and Mohammedan secured 24 points from 15 matches.