& 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

Abahani held by Aizawl

Sports Reporter
An unimpressive Abahani surrendered the lead and played out a 1 -1 draw against former I-League champions Aizawl FC in a Group E encounter of the AFC Cup at Bangabandhu National Stadium yesterday.
Romanian midfielder Andrei Ionescu cancelled out Emeka Darlington's 30th-minute strike in the 64th minute to shatter Bangladesh Premier League champions Abahani's hopes of posting back-to-back wins against the Indian outfit, who came into the match on the back of a 3-0 drubbing at the hands of the seven-time BPL champions at their home ground two weeks ago.
The affair seemed like a reverse of what had transpired between the outfits then. Abahani had dominated the away match and gotten all three goals in the first half, but this time Aizawl dominated the first half and kept Abahani defenders on their toes, although failing to breach them.
It would have been no wonder had the youthful Aizawl taken a 2-0 lead within the first 20 minutes and the home side were lucky not to concede thanks to some good defending and timely saves from goalkeeper Shahidul Alam Sohel.
Abahani lacked thirst and urgency throughout, aside from a couple of good moves in the dying moments, especially when the visitors defended deep in order to secure the draw.
After surviving those two close calls, Abahani went on a counter that ended with Nigeria's Sunday Chizoba rattling the crossbar from 20 yards out before his compatriot Emeka Darlington put the Sky Blues ahead against the run of play. Emeka sent Aizawl goalkeeper Avilash Paul the wrong way from the spot after he was brought down inside the box by an Aizawl defender.
However Aizawl's determination did not waver and they continued to press, eventually finding the equaliser when Leonce Dodoz of Ivory Coast ran down the right before squaring the ball to an unmarked Ionescu, who made no mistake with his side-volley from inside the six-yard box.
Abahani looked a bit better after making adjustments in the second half and had numerous chances to take the lead and make up for their sloppy performance, but it was not to be.
Sunday rattled the post from the right flank in the 90th minute, moments before his headed goal was ruled out for a foul on the opposing goalkeeper. Aizawl were let off the hook two minutes into the four minutes of added time again as Alison Udoka was denied by the post.
"It was a disappointing match and I have to take responsibility because there was clear difference in fitness between the two sides. The chances were there but we could not take them. We could not make the match easy by making the margin 2-0; instead we conceded the equaliser. I must admit the running and movement of the opponents were better than ours," said Abahani coach Saiful Bari Titu, adding that it did not seem to him that Abahani played as a team.
"I am happy to take one point from the away match, especially after losing the home match 3-0. The match was entertaining and the margin could have been 3-3, 4-4. We could have even won the match," was the assessment of Aizwal coach Santosh Kashyap, who however raised questions about the penalty and also of the decision to not send off Abahani midfielder Atlqur Rahman Fahad in the second half.