Abahani end sorry year with another defeat

Abahani's poor start to the season continued as they were beaten 1-0 by Fortis FC in the second round of the Bangladesh Premier League at the Muktijuddho Smriti Stadium in Rajshahi today.

The six-time professional league champions, who were eliminated from the semifinals of the season-opening Independence Cup and drew 1-1 against Rahmatganj MFS in their first match of the league last week, conceded the only goal of the game in the 37th minute when Fortis FC's Ukrainian midfielder Valery Gryshyn found the net with a diagonal shot from inside the box after being teed up by Gambian forward Pa Omar Babou.

Although early days, the defeat left the Sky Blues in eighth position on the 10-team table with one point while Fortis moved up to fifth position with three points from two games. However, the defeat capped off a forgettable year for Abahani, who were also beaten in last season's Federation Cup final against archrivals Mohammedan earlier this year and could not make it to the group stage of the AFC Cup after being beaten by Mohun Bagan. 

There were no such disasters for defending champions Bashundhara Kings and three-time champions Sheikh Jamal DC, both winning comfortably.

Sheikh Jamal bounced back from a defeat to Sheikh Russel with a 1-0 win over Police FC at the Rafiq Uddin Bhuiyan Stadium in Mymensingh.

The only goal of the game came in the 55th minute when Police captain Isa Faysal put the ball into his own net while trying to take the ball off from Sheikh Jamal forward Stanley Augustine inside the box. Both Sheikh Jamal and Police have three points each from two games.

Bashundhara Kings players celebrate their victory over Chittagong Abahani. Photo: BFF

Bashundhara Kings, though, took their dominant form to the last day of the year as the champions took only two minutes to break the deadlock against Chittagong Abahani at their home venue. Dorielton Gomes's looping header on a cross from Tutul Hossain Badsha sailed over Chittagong Abahani goalkeeper Monirul Islam and nestled into the back of the net.

The port city side hit back eight minutes later, with Abu Abolaji smashing home from close range following a goalmouth scramble.

In-form forward Rakib Hossain restored Kings' lead on the half-hour mark with a powerful left-footed strike which slipped through Monirul's hands.

Dorielton scored his second of the match in the 40th minute with a flick following a cutback from Rafiqul Islam before Robson Robinho wrapped up the victory with a spot-kick three minutes from the end of regulation time.

The win kept Kings firmly on top with six points while Chittagong Abahani remained at the bottom without a single point.