Old foes in final
Prince propels Mohammedan
Sports Reporter
An early strike by national forward Ariful Haq Prince sunk Usha Krira Chakra and propelled Mohamme-dan Sporting Club into the final of the Shah Sports Club Cup Hockey Tournament with a 1-0 win in the second semifinal yesterday.Two-time champions Moha-mmedan who were eliminated from the same stage of the tournament last time will take on archrivals and holders Abahani, who downed Mariners 2-0 in Monday's first semifinal, in tomorrow's final. The match began half an hour late due to power failure at the Maulana Bhasani National Hockey Stadium as the synthetic turf could not be duly watered and it was Mohammedan who dominated a rather dull first 35 minutes. For the cash-starved local giants, who have yet to make payments to most of their players after the season's transfer, it was a splendid performance against the big-budgeted Usha. The black and whites did not take long to go ahead when Towhidur Rahman Tuhin deflected a freehit by Sharafat Mia into the area after nine minutes. Prince picked the ball and went round one defender to score with an angular hit. Mohammedan looked more interested to hold onto the slender lead with an indefatigable Mamunur Rahman Chayan dominant in the midfield and Yamin Hossain's stubborn show at the back. Usha enjoyed superior possession after the break but the old-Dhaka outfit failed to beat the wall created by Yamin and Moshiur Rahman Biplab. Goalkeeper Mahbub Ullah came to Moha-mmedan's aid when he saved a powerful reverse hit by Hassan Ahmed shortly before Al Masum's scoop missed the post for inches. Usha put relentless pressure on the rival goal but Rafiqul Islam Kamal was denied by Yamin's inspired defending before Mohammedan hit back on a quick counter attack. But Usha goalie Zahid Hossain pulled off a superb save to thwart Prince's hit from point-blank range and keep the side in the game. Usha forced consecutive penalty corners on the hour and Yamin made the save of the day when the Mohammedan back cleared Mostafiz Dinar's low drag from the goalline. Usha almost conceded a second goal for being too attacking in the dying moments but Maksud Alam Habul's solo effort went down the drains as he rattled the sidebar from a difficult angle. Usha will take on Mariners in the third-place play-off also scheduled for tomorrow.
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