In a titans battle, Dhaka Abahani Limited, without any foreign booters, upset their traditional rivals Dhaka Mohammedan SC beating them by 1-0 goal in the Federation Cup Football at the Shaheed Dhirendranath Dutta Stadium in Cumilla Tuesday afternoon.
After a barren first half, forward Mohammad Ibrahim scored the match winning goal for sky-blue Dhanmondi outfit Abahani in the 74th minute ((1-0)).
With the day's well merited victory with the limited resources, Dhaka Abahani not only assured their berth in next round (qualifiers/eliminator), but also took sweet revenge of their 0-1 goal defeat against Mohammedan in the 3rd round of ongoing BPL football, also in Cumilla last month.
After the match, Dhaka Abahani Ltd are in the 2nd slot in Group B with all- win record securing full six points from straight two matches while Rahmatganj MFS topped group list also with all-win run by better goal differences despite of collecting six points from two outings.
With the day's debacle, the next round berth of traditional black & whites Mohammedan now became uncertain with three points from three matches.
The day's other Group B match between two lowly teams--Youngmen’s Club Fakirerpool and bottom ranked Chittagong Abahani Limited ended in 2-2 draw at the Rafiq Uddin Bhuiyan Stadium in Mymensingh Tuesday afternoon.
Saiful and Sabuj scored for Chittagong Abahani one in each half while Akobir and Shanto Tudu netted for Youngmen's Club Fakirerpool, also one in each half.
Grouping of Federation Cup:
Group A -Bashundhara Kings, Bangladesh Police FC, Fortis FC, Brothers Union Club and Dhaka Wanderers Club
Group B - Mohammedan SC Ltd, Dhaka Abahani Ltd, Chattagram Abahani Ltd, Rahmatganj MFS and Fakirerpool Youngmen's Club.
Later, top two teams from each of the two groups will play in the meet's next round (qualification and elimination) like the Franchisee cricket league.