Chittagong Abahani took a surprising lead on the stroke of the breather through captain Khokon Das but a regrouped home side came back with Zahid Hassan Emily's equaliser at the Bangabandhu National Stadium 13 minutes after resumption.

With eight wins in 14 games, the sky-blues posted solo lead in the table at the end of the 16th week with 29 points.

Although it was a one-way traffic from the start, the Dhaka giants were kept at bay by the visitors' five-man backline and Nepalese goalkeeper Surendra who made his first serious save after 12 minutes.

Emily, who scored four goals against Rahmatganj, latched onto a long centre by fullback Siraji but Surendra parried the ball from point-blank range.

Surendra fumbled on a corner by Ujjal midway through the first half but Chittagong Abahani defender Dhiman rescued the side with a goalline save.

Quick on counter attacks, the port city foreign strikers Santosh and Tamba Goi tested a rather shaky Abahani defence often and Tamba's overhead pass in the 32nd minute set Khokon with a golden chance. However, the midfielder's first-time volley on one-on-one from 12 yards was brilliantly palmed over by Biplab.

Ibrahim, who came back to the side after a one-match ban, looked like a fish out of water in the midfield and Amalesh Sen pushed the Ghanaian forward to his natural position five minutes from the break when the Dhaka coach replaced Cameroonian striker Souleyman with Abul Hossain.

Emily found the net in the 43rd minute but his goal was ruled out for offside, inspiring the tourists to make most of a defensive gaffe in the next minute by Abahani's stand-in skipper Pradip, who got the armband in absence of suspended Arif Khan Joy.

The centre-back lost possession at the right side of their box to Nepalese forward Santosh who played a brilliant square pass inside for Tamba, who stepped over it to allow an onrushing Khokon drill the ball into Biplab's right hand post.

Under sporadic rain, Abahani took absolute control of the second half after an early wake up call when Biplab had to rush out of his line to deny a dangerous counter attack by Tamba.

Afterwards, a blue tied swelled near the Chittagong goal but both Ibrahim and Abul saw their efforts deflect off the defensive wall.

The relentless pressure told when Nigerian midfielder Obi Mikel John set up Emily's seventh league goal with his last shot of the match. Mikel, who was taken off just after the equaliser, had released a sharp centre from the right to pick Emily whose glancing header beat Surendra at the far post.

Emily nodded a similar chance wide while Ibrahim's low drive was cleared off the goalline by Chittagong Abahani's Sohel Rana as the hosts got desperate for a winner.

But the visiting side looked like stealing an away point after losing their home leg 2-0 in last April when Surendra pulled off two excellent saves off substitute Abdullah Parvez.

However, holding midfielder Pranotosh, occupying Joy's position, bailed out the sky-blues when he exchanged three passes with Emily and Abul at the right side to weave through the rival backline and place an angled shot into the far corner from the edge of the six-yard box.