& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

Mohammedan grow stronger

Russel's first loss

Sports Reporter
Mohammedan’ s striking pair was on target to help the title contenders topple a major hurdle in the
Citycell B. League with a 2-1 victory against Sheikh Russel yesterday.
Robin scored nine minutes
before halftime while Nigerian striker Alamu Bukola doubled the lead in the first minute after resumption at the Bangabandhu National Stadium to end Russel’s unbeaten run in the league.
Aifaz Ahmed, again recalled for the national team following his omission from the Merdeka Cup squad, maintained his scoring spree with a consolation goal for Russel, whose first loss in seven games cost Wajed Gazi's side the top spot which remained to holders Abahani.
After their third win from five games, Mohammedan moved to third place with 11 points, three behind Russel and four adrift of the leaders who have played six matches.
Maruful Haque's boys began lively, stringing passes together and maintained the eye-catching style throughout the game that never gave Russel the opportunity to settle.
Bukola should have scored in the 11th minute but the lanky marksman, who got the ball after a dazzling run by the Black and Whites' promising rightback Nasir, placed wide from six yards.
Russel's only creative move came five minutes later with out-of-form Saiful in the middle of a counter attack from their own half. The midfielder, otherwise downbeat and replaced after 36 minutes, exchanged passes with Igir, Tanvir and Youness to drill through the rival defence and finally released the ball to Youness on the edge of the area. Russel's Moroccan captain picked up Tanvir unmarked in the area but die winger, who had only to beat Aminul at the goal, failed to keep his volley under the bar.
Mohammedan won a freekick on the half hour on the edge of the area but Egyptian midfielder Hazem
FROM PAGE 17
could not beat the wall before Nasir set Robin to break the deadlock.
Although Mohammedan had opened up better chances, Nasir's harmless looking square pass inside the box unsettled the opposition backline who failed to stop Robin from scoring his fourth league goal with a lucky flick that went in off the far post
Azam made a fine save at the Russel goal after Saikat headed an Arman Aziz cross in the 42nd minute and Russel made another great escape in the first half stoppage time.
Bukola went round die keeper with a through from Robin but the Nigerian miskicked his chance into the side netting despite needing a simple push to send the ball into an open net from a handshaking distance.
He, however, made amends inside 20 seconds of the second half when he snatched the ball from unsuspecting Russel defender Zahirul. Bukola broke into the box saw his placing shot blocked by Azam and regained possession when Parvez Babu's mistimed clearance came back to him. This time the Nigerian kept cool and lobbed the ball into the back of the net from a rather tight angle for his fourth goal in the run.
In an otherwise drab second half, Alfaz raised hopes of a Russel
fightback when the league's top scorer took his tally to seven with a fortunate strike.
Sent raging by Youness's through, the ace striker took a humble shot that bounced back off goalkeeper Aminul but Mohammedan centre-back Saikat, hurrying to recover, pushed the ball into his own net
Mohammedan were content with superior possession for the rest of the game as Russel hardly threatened an equaliser but the victory came at a price of Tk 10,000, which they' will have to pay as fine for receiving four yellow cards in a game.
"The cards were unnecessary," rued coach Maruf adding that he had replaced key players towards the end as they were playing their second big match inside six days.
"Our lead was never under threat although the opponents made a few moves on counter attacks," said Maruf, who pushed captain Jewel Rana onto the pitch for the last half hour after a long lay-off due to injury.
His counterpart Wajed Gazi rued the mistake by Zahirul and the overall poor performance of the defence for their first league defeat
"Zahirul gifted the second goaL Otherwise we had a chance as we played better in the second half Igir was not at his best in the first half, which was a major problem," he said
off the Moroccan midfielder.
Yellow cards: Nasir, Saikat, Rajani, Sharif (Mohammedan)
TEAMS
Mohammedan: Aminul, Nasir, Saikat, Rajani (Jewel), Ripon (Kamal), Sharif (Emmanuelle), Hazem, Arman Aziz, Faisal, Robin andBukola.
Russel: Azam. Aminul, Zahirul (Sohel), Bourdip, Parvez (Hassan), Saiful (Mobarak), Igjr, Monwar, Tanvir, Youness and Alfaz.
Referee: Azad Rahman.