Brothers Finish Fifth

Brothers Union signed off their inaugural professional football league campaign with a come-from-behind 4-1 win in an ill-tempered match against Chittagong Abahani.

Both sides ended with ten players after Abahani's foreign recruit Banei Othelo and Brothers' Mamunul Islam, who got his maiden national call last week, were sent off.

Just before the short whistle, the two players were locked in a scuffle following a foul by Othello that spread among the officials. The home tent had more men than permitted and they invaded the pitch which needed police intervention to stop the chaos.

The match resumed after referee Shahidul Islam Lalu, who failed to handle the situation properly, showed red cards to both the midfielders.

The Dhaka giants, two-time defending Premiership champions, ensured fifth place in the 11-team B. League table with 26 points while Chittagong Abahani remained third from bottom with the threat of finishing one place below.

Khulna Abahani and Rahamatganj will fight to avoid a bottom-table end and if one of these two win their tomorrow's game, Chittagong Abahani will slip to tenth place.

The home side, however, got off to a flying start when Nepalese international Santosh Shahukhal put the port-city sky-blues ahead after eight minutes at the MA Aziz Stadium with a superb shot from the right side of the penalty area.

Brothers, who had won 3-0 against Chittagong Abahani in Dhaka in both sides' opening match of the competition, restored parity eight minutes later through Ashraful Quader Manju, whose brace in the last round helped the Oranges edged Rahmatganj 2-1.

Manju collected a pass from skipper and leftback Masud Rana to finish inside from the box.

The match went into halftime 1-1 and looked set for a draw as Santosh was denied twice by rival keeper Mohammed Ali, whose superb saves inspired Syed Nayeemuddin's side to snatch three points with a late rally.

Defender Amit Khan Shuvra pounced on a corner by Faisal Mahmud to shoot the visitors ahead after 70 minutes while Nigerian striker Elijah Junior put the result beyond doubt two minutes from time with his 16th league goal when he went round Nepalese goalie Surendra to slot home after latching with a through from substitute Mahbub.

Junior now looks on course to retain his top scorer's position with only fellow Nigerian and Mohammedan captain Mwach Ukwu Paul chasing him. Paul has one match in hand to improve on his 14 goals while Mohammedan striker Christina Emeka and Abahani forward Zahid Hassan Emily, who also have a game remaining, are distant third with a dozen goals each.

There was more and substitute Faisal Mahmud's superlative strike outside from the box made it 4-1 in the stoppage time.

After his last match with the Gopibagh outfit, Brothers' Indian coach Nayeemuddin will take over as Bangladesh national coach.