Abahani Limited came from a goal down to beat 10-man Chittagong Abahani in their Bangladesh Premier League second-leg tie at the Shaheed Dhirendranath Datta Stadium in Cumilla on Monday.
In the day’s other game, bottom-placed Swadhinata Krira Sangha upset third-placed Saif Sporting Club 1-2 to earn their second win in the league at the Bir Shrestha Shaheed Flight Lieutenant Motiur Rahman Stadium in Munshiganj.
Meanwhile in Gopalganj, Uttar Baridhara Club and Rhamatganj Muslim Friends Society played out a 1-1 draw at the Sheikh Fazlul Haque Moni Stadium in Gopalganj.
In Cumilla, Brazilian forward Dorielton Gomes scored a brace while forward Nurul Naium Faisal scored the other for Abahani while Ctg Abahani pulled two goals back throughtheir Afghan midfielder Omid Popalzay and Nigerian midfielder Peter Thankgod.
Omid gave Ctg Abahani the lead in the 32nd minute by scoring from a free-kick but the lead stayed for just two minutes as Dorielton scored the equaliser for Abahani with a header after a cross by Costa Rican World-Cupper Daniel Colanders.
The port-city outfit went to the break with 2-1 cushion with Thankgod did not make any mistake to convert a penalty in the 40th minute.
Abahani defender Mehedi Hasan Royal was brought down inside the box by Ctg Abahani’s Nigerian forward Candy Augustine and the referee Jalal Uddin did not hesitate to call for a penalty.
In the second half, Ctg Abahani went defensive and relied on counter attacks and it worked until Candy Augustine was sent off after receiving his second yellow card in the 57th minute.
Like the first half, Abahani dominated the ball possession with pressing game against a 10-man Ctg Abahani and got the equaliser in the 71st minute as Dorielton headed the ball home connecting a corner from Colanders.
Faisal won it for the Sky Blues in the 78th minute when his effort from the left side found the back of the net after a deflection from Ctg Abahani midfielder Sakhawat Hossain.
In Munshiganj, Swadhinta KS kept their post intact in the first half before Saif SC’s Nigerina forward Emeka Chukwudiebube broke the deadlock in the 58th minute.
But Swadhinta handed the third defeat to Saif SC as their forward Zillur Rahman scored the equaliser in the 67th minute before their Serbian midfielder Ivan Maric sealed the win by converting a penalty in the 85th minute.
In Gopalganj, Nigerian forward Sunday Chizoba scored for Rahmatganj MFS in the 80th minute before Baridhara’s Ivory Coast midfielder Youssouf Mory Bamba made it 1-1 in the stoppage time of the game.
After playing out 17 games each, Abahani have 38 points, six points behind league leaders’ Bashundhara Kings while third place Saif SC have30 points.
Ctg Abahani were the fifth place with 26 points, ninth-placed Baridhara earned 13 points while Rahmatganj 11 points, two points more than bottom-placed Swadhinata KS.