Dhaka, May 3: A ten-man Dhaka Abahani Ltd. rose to the occasion to beat visiting Bengaluru FC of India 2-0 in the ongoing AFC Cup's group E clash at the Bangabandhu National Stadium on Wednesday evening.
The win is the sky-blues' first victory in the four group matches played so far.
Saad Uddin and Rubel Miya scored the goals late in the second half to give Bengaluru their first taste of defeat in four group matches.
The first ten minutes of the game saw some end to end football with both the teams exploring the oppositions defence lines on a number of times.
Bengaluru, as expected, used the flanks to create goal-scoring chances while Abahani opted for a counter attacking strategy.
However, it was Abahani who sent the first chill through the Bengaluru spine in the 13th minute when Rubel Miya's cracking left footer from the right edge of the box whiskered past the crossbar.
Three minutes later, it Rubel Miya was at it again. Dancing down the right flank, he cut the ball back to Nigerian forward Emeka Darlington whose back heel missed the goal by a slight margin.
Bengaluru gradually gathered themselves up and started to create chances.
Defender Nishu Kumar made an overlapping run making his way through the Abahani defence in the 27th minute but his angular grounder was confidently held by diving Abahani goalie Shahidul Alam Sohel.
Playing in 33 degree Celsius was not very comfortable for the players as both the teams concentrated on saving the energy in the last part of the first halfÂÂ that ended goalless.
In order to bolster the frontline, Bengaluru coach Alberto Roca Pujol sent in forward Vineeth in the place of midfielder Alwyn George at the beginning of the second half.
Lalhumpua Daniel in the place of defender Nidhu Kumar was the second of the two changes made by Pujol at the break.
With a reinvigorated frontline, Bengaluru created the first chance of the second half on the hour mark.
Forward Udanta Singh made a defence splitting run but lost control of the ball at the edge of the six yard box.
In the 67th minute, Abahani forward Emeka Darlington, missed the line of a low cross cut by Emon Babu standing at the middle of the box.
However, it was Bengaluru who were cursing the lady luck in the 79th minute when Alwyn George's shot went straight to Sohel from a handshaking distance after a beautiful combined move.
The scenario changed in the 80th minute when Abahani defender Nasiruddin Chowdhury was sent off for his second bookable offence.
Surprisingly, the sky-blues were unfazed by the fact that they were a man short against a side that beat them 2-0 in the previous match and started to create chance after chance.
Finally, on the 87th minute, substitute forward Saad Uddin broke the deadlock for the sky-blues instigating a huge cheer from the home crowd.
English midfielder Jonathan Davids cut a precise cross to Saad whose side volley rocketed past the Bengaluru goalkeeper and hit the back of the net (1-0).
In the very next minute, Jonathan Davids's slicing shot missed the post by a few inches.
The fate of the match was decided in the second minute of the four minute stoppage time when Rubel Miya scored the second goal for Abahani.
Bengaluru goalie Amrinder Singh came out of his position when his team lost possession in the midfield to Emeka. The Nigerian forward passed the ball to Rubel Miya who kept his composure sent the ball into the empty net with a looping shot from 35 yards (2-0).
Abahani have three points from four matches while Bengaluru remained on nine playing the same number of matches.
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