A brilliant hat-trick by Nigerian booter Sunday Chizoba enabled defending champions Dhaka Abahani Ltd to pile up another impressive 5-2 goals victory over Rahmatganj MFS in the 13-team Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) Football that resumed at the Bangabandhu National Stadium here on Saturday.
In the first leg match at the same venue on February 2, Dhaka Abahani Ltd outplayed Rahmagtanj MFS by massive 5-1 goals.
The league resumed on Saturday after a recess of three weeks for Eid-ul-Fitr as well as was for the joint pre-qualifications for the FIFA World Cup’2022 and AFC Asian Cup’2023 between Bangladesh and Laos.
Bangladesh advanced to the qualifying round of the FIFA World Cup’2022 beating Laos by 1-0 in the away match and playing a goalless draw in the home match.
After the day’s comprehensive victory, the popular sky-blue Dhanmondi outfit, Abahani, reduced their gap with league leader Bashundhara Kings securing 39 points from 16 outings featuring 13 wins and three defeats while Bashundhara Kings topped the list with 43 points from 15 matches with 14 wins and a draw.
Rahmatganj MFS remained at the 8th slot in the league with their previous credit of 15 points playing 16 matches.
In the goal-fest match, Sunday Chizoba made his first hat-trick of the ongoing BPL league scoring three goals in the 9th, 36th and 93rd minute while midfielder Jewel Rana and forward Nabib Newaz Ziban netted one goal each for Dhaka Abahani Limited.
On the other hand, Congolese forward Siyo Zunapio Jeancy and midfielder Didarul Alam scored one goal each for Rahmatganj MFS.
Abahani created strong pressure over opponent’s defence from the very beginning and reaped its fruit in the 9th minute as Sunday Chizoba opened the account for his side (1-0).
They got two more success in a span of just three minutes.
In the 33th minute, Sunday Chizoba doubled the margin with his 13th goal in the league (2-0) and mid-fielder Jewel Rana scored the 3rd goal in the 36th minute (3-0).
Old Dhaka outfit Rahmatganj MFS got another blow as Abahani forward Nabib Newaz Ziban netted the 4th goal for Dhaka Abahani in the 45th minute (4-0).
In the second half, Rahmatganj MFS tried to come back in the match and started to play their aggressive football against their giant opponents.
In the 65th minute, Congolese forward Siyo Zunapio Jeancy netted the first goal for them to reduce the margin (4-1).
Rahmatganj MFS got the second success in the 70th minute as their midfielder Didarul Alam doubled their score netting the second goal (4-2).
But just before the final whistle (93rd minute), Sunday Chizoba sealed the fate of the match scoring his third goal and competed the hat-trick in the match (5-2).
With the feat, Sunday Chizoba further consolidated his position in the scorer list of the ongoing BPL scoring 14 goals while his teammate Nabib Newaz Ziban followed him with 11 goals.
