[Nocturnal]

Match report from bdnews-

Abahani return to title race beating Mohammedan

Dhaka, June 3 (bdnews24.com) - Last year's joint champion Abahani Limited kept their hopes of clinching the Premier Hockey League title alive when they handed a 6-5 defeat to archrivals Mohammedan SC in the Super League encounter Monday.

Abahani Limited dominated the first half to take a comfortable 4-1 lead, but their ultra defensive strategy in the second half almost led them to slip from the match played at Moulana Bhasani National Hockey Stadium.

The high-voltage match failed to draw attention of a few hundred spectators at the big bowl, and coaches of both the sides agreed with this.

It was a do-or-die match for Abahani in the title race with leaders Usha Krira Chakra, but Mohammedan looked more relaxed in the match following their earlier exit from the race.

"We first tried to protect our defence, which had earlier gone down against Usha and we came out successful today in counter- attacks," said Abahani coach Mahbub Haroon.

He, however, blamed the players for goals as his boys did not follow his strategy of playing on ground instead of air in the second half.

Mohammedan coach Barkatullah Chapal praised the Abahani players, who availed themselves of the opportunity from the beginning.

Chapal also blamed his defenders for going down against Abahani.

Abahani kept Mohammedan's Pakistani forward Mohammad Sabbir, who destroyed Abahani in the first-leg match, in a tight protection from the beginning and that eventually led Mohammedan to a void in the midfield.

Ehsan Rana, Musa Mia and Russell Hasan Rony watched Sabbir, who hardly got any ball in the match.

Moududur Rahman Shuvo put Abahani ahead in the very second minute with a reverse hit, but the Dhanmondi-based outfit saw defender Musa Mia equalise the Mohammedan margin one minute later converting a penalty corner.

Defender Mamunur Rahman Chayan, who put up a brilliant performance converting three out of four penalty corners, scored two successive goals in the 14th and 19th minutes before Pakistani medio M Modasser made it 4-1 in the 26th minute.

After the breather, Abahani took a defensive strategy with almost nine players staying in the 25 yards and Abahani had to pay heavy price with Mohammedan controlling the midfield without facing any obstacle from the opponents.

Sabbir reduced the margin for Mohammedan converting a penalty stroke eight minutes into the second half while Shuvo widened the Abahani margin in the 53rd minute from a counter- attack.

Then, Mohammedan's Golam Mostafa Manik reduced the margin to 5-3 in the 65th minute and two minutes later, Chayan increased the lead to 6-3 converting a penalty corner.

The Motijheel-based outfit, Mohammedan, reimbursed another two goals in the last one minute with scoreboard reading 6-5, but, by then ,the umpires blew his long whistle and Abahani took breath of relief.

With the triumph, Abahani equalled Usha with 33 points from 12 matches and they will face each other in the title-deciding match of the Super League on Friday.