Mohammedan Sporting Club and Abahani were declared joint champions of the Green Delta Insurance Premier Division Hockey League after the Sky Blues beat their archrivals 5-2 in the last match of the league at the Maulana Bhasani National Hockey Stadium yesterday which meant the two sides finished with 36 points each from 13 matches.
As per the bylaws of the league, they were supposed to take part in a play-off match, but an emergency meeting of the league committee following yesterday's match declared the two teams joint winners with consent from the members of both sides and a few other clubs as well.
A press release from the Bangladesh Hockey Federation stated that the decision was taken in the greater interest of the game without mentioning what that interest was. However, the return schedule of the officiating foreign umpires was expected to be the reason behind such a move.
The title took the Dhanmondi club back to the pinnacle of local hockey having relinquished the last league to Usha Krira Chakra who have opted to stay out of the current season.
Abahani came into this match three points behind Mohammedan knowing well that anything other than a defeat would hand their opponents the title. Having lost 0-3 in the first leg to the same opposition, Abahani started as clear underdogs. But during the course of the game, they always looked step ahead than their rivals and controlled most of the match.
National forward Pushkor Khisha Mimo was in inspiring form as he scored two goals and created three penalty corners, two of which were converted by Pakistani penalty-corner specialist Sohail Abbas, for the winners.
Abahani started the game strongly and found the back of the board with Abbas striking from the penalty corner in the sixth minute. Mohammedan pulled one back through veteran Musa Mia in the 23rd, only to fall behind again to a 31st minute strike from Mimo. But Mohammedan's Pakistani recruit Sabbir Khan made it 2 apiece in the 34th minute. If Abahani started the half strongly, Mohammedan finished with the upper hand as the two sides went to the break all square.
The second half belonged all to the men in sky blue. Highest scorer in international hockey Sohail Abbas successfully converted for the second time in the day in the 43rd minute. And there was no return for the Motijheel tent when they got further behind fifteen minutes later through a fumble at the back which profited Mimo with his second goal. A dumfounded Mohammedan conceded a fifth goal a minute later, this time Mudassar Ali Khan was beneficiary. An unexpected yet thoroughly deserved 5-2 win left the Sky Blues tent in ecstasy while their opposite numbers were left to ponder what went wrong on the last day.
Abahani coach Kawsar Ali praised his players for this result.
"We have learnt from the mistakes we made in the first leg, and it was simply our best performance of the league. We played a fast game which our opponents could not cope pace with."
Mohammedan's assistant coach Jahirul Islam Mitul blamed the bad performance from the local players for this upset.
"It was a bad day for us, we played far below our potential. The local players could not play according to the game plan."
Earlier in the day, Mariner Youngs recorded a 4-3 victory over Sonali Bank to snatch the third position in the league.
source:dailystar
