A depleted Abahani tasted their maiden victory over Bashundhara Kings in the Bangladesh Premier League when they handed the defending champions a 1-0 defeat at the Shaheed Dhirendranath Datta Stadium in Cumilla today.

Forward Suman Reza separated both sides in the very second minute with a glancing header on a well-judged cross from Shahriar Emon.

Kings had the opportunity to score an equaliser when they received a penalty at the start of the second half, but their Brazilian forward Miguel Ferreira squandered the chance.

Since their debut in top-flight football in 2018, Kings never lost to Abahani in the Premier League, winning eight and drawing two in their previous 10 meetings.

However, the Sky Blues had victories over the Kings in the Federation Cup and Independence Cup.

The third win in four matches took Abahani to the second position of the 10-team table with nine points, three less than leaders Mohammedan SC who today thrashed Bangladesh Police FC 3-1 to maintain solo lead in the professional football league.

Kings stuck glued at the joint third position with six points from four matches.