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Robin’s rescue act

Al Musabbir Sadi
A sublime strike by • Hedayetullah Robin | gave Mohammedan a last-gasp 2-2 draw against archrivals Abahani in an entertaining B. League clash at the Bangabandhu National
Stadium yesterday.
In a seesaw battle that kicked the restart of the competition after two weeks, holders Abahani looked set to snatch a come-from-behind victory when Nigerian midfielder Emeka Christian scored either side of the break to put the defending champions in driver's seat after Alamu Bukola's 20th minute opener for the Black and Whites.
But Abahani paid for lack of reserves that pushed them into a defensive shell on the night as rookie national striker Robin equalised from an acute angle in the first minute of the stoppage time.
Despite their first league draw, the Sky Blues stayed atop the table with 16 points from seven matches while Mohammedan remained four points behind with one match in hand.
The advantage, however, will be Mohammedan's as Maruful Haque's still unbeaten side have completed their quota of big matches while Abahani still have to face title contenders Brothers Union and Sheikh Russel.
Although Jewel Rana attended an official pre-match briefing on Sunday, the
Mohammedan captain was not even in the 18-member list but Hassan Al Mamun returned from a long injury lay-off to play in an unfamiliar role as leftback.
In front of a frustratingly low 7,000-strong crowd, Mohammedan began brightly with their midfield stringing a series of neat short-passes and Robin came close after ten minutes only to be denied a final shot by rival captain Nazrul’s inspired defending.
But Bukola made no mistake 10 minutes later when the Nigerian capitalised on some slack defending against Mohammedan's superior ball possession to race past Ghanaian defender Samad Yussif with a pass from Sharif and put the ball past an outrushing goalkeeper Biplab for his fifth goal.
Abahani began to slice through the rival defence after conceding the lead and appealed for a handball inside the opposition penalty area without success before Zahid misdirected a close range effort.
A minute after Emeka failed to keep Ghanaian playmaker Ibrahim's superb chip under the bar from six yards, Abahani suffered a setback as defensive midfielder Pranotosh left the field with a head injury.
Coach Amalesh Sen gambled with Joy, taking the decision to send the former national and Abahani captain in as replacement. But even before a half-fit Joy -- who joined camp just two days earlier after failing to get a nomination for the coming general elections — entered the ground, Abahani levelled the score in the
39th minute.
Zahid ignited the move at the right and Ibrahim helped on the ball with an overhead pass to Emeka, who evaded Saikat's challenge at the left side of the box and neatly placed the ball into the far corner with a left-footed volley.
Mohammedan still could have gone one up at the break but Robin's placing shot on one-on-one was brilliantly saved one-handed by Biplab in the injury time.
After Biplab made another important save four minutes into the second half, palming away Bukola's angled drive from the top of the box, the roles reversed as Abahani came out as the dominating force.
The league leaders went ahead in the 55th minute when Emily and Ibrahim exchanged passes at the left to set up Emeka inside the area. The Nigerian's first effort was blocked by custodian Aminul but three Mohammedan defenders surrounding the Abahani midfielder failed to stop his second-time touch roll across the line. It was Emeka's fifth goal in the run.
Zahid blasted a chance over the bar on the hour as Abahani looked to maintain the edge in the midfield with Joy giving a nice performance in only his second appearance of the league this season.
However, things began to swing the other way after a struggling midfielder Abul was taken off. With Mamun suffering from fever, Amalesh had no other option but to send another defender in as Abahani played the last 10 minutes with a five-man backline. There came enough space in the middle for the Black and Whites to mount heavy pressure. Nasir, the young right fullback who was otherwise calm, created three openings with his deft runs but hit one over the bar from long range before finding Robin, who placed wide.
The pressure finally told when substitute Komol flicked a pass by Nasir to Robin, who got the ball in an almost impossible angle at the left side but moved on his heels nicely to struck a powerful and curling right-footer into the top left corner of Biplab to salvage a valuable point with his fifth league goal.
Amalesh, whose side will be fined Tk 10,000 for receiving four yellow cards, rued for letting Mohammedan off the hook but said he was helpless.
"We should have won but threw it away for trouble in midfield," said the veteran former international.
"I lost Pranotosh and Mamun was unfit, so I had to
send a defender for Abul. That's why we could not attack in the last minutes."
His Mohammedan counterpart said he was happy in the end.
"In a big match you can expect anything. But I always believed my team should score because we had superior possession. The way we pressed, a goal was bound to come and thanks to Robin for an outstanding equaliser," saidMaruf.
Yellow cards: Pranotosh, Emeka. Joy. Biplab (Abahani) and Robin (Mohammedan).
TEAMS
ABAHANI: Biplab, Nazrul, Samad. Sujan, Waly, Zahid, Pranotosh (Joy, 41), Emeka, Abul (Obaidur, 80), Ibrahim and Emily.
MOHAMMEDAN: Aminul, Nasir, Saikat (Wahid, 46), Rajani, Hassan, Sharif, Arman Aziz, Hazem, Faisal Mahmud (Komol, 78), Robin and Bukola.
Referee: Abdul Hannan.