Sheikh Russel's Moroccan recruit Youness Roux fights for the ball against Chittagong Abahani in the Federation Cup match at the Bangabandhu National Stadium yesterday. PHOTO: STAR

Defending champions Sheikh Russel KC survived some nervous moments in the second half before pulling off a 1-0 victory over promoted club Chittagong Abahani in their first match of the Walton Federation Cup at the Bangabandhu National Stadium yesterday.
Team BJMC, meanwhile, stumbled as they were held to a 2-2 draw by Bangladesh Police. But the draw was only ensured by a stoppage-time strike from Mehdi Hasan Tapu, who had given BJMC a 17th-minute lead only to see Bangladesh Police scoring twice. Amirul Islam cancelled out the first strike from Tapu in the 76th minute before Kabirul Islam gave Police the lead in the 88th minute. But Tapu denied Police a famous victory and kept BJMC's hopes of moving into the quarterfinals alive by striking deep into stoppage time.
Under the floodlight, treble-winners Sheikh Russel toiled hard to preserve their 18th-minute lead given by Moroccan Youness Roux as Chittagong Abahani switched from a 5-3-2 to a 4-4-2 formation in the second half to launch a wave of attacks, exposing the backline of Sheikh Russel several times.
But the promoted side were not lucky enough to share the spoils with Sheikh Russel, who look a depleted side since nine key players left the club in the preseason transfers.  
Sheikh Russel however made a lively start, playing a 4-3-3 formation, with Uruguayan Francis Andres and Mithun Chowdhury controlling the midfield with crisp passing while Jamaican Ricardo Cousins and local Anawar Hossain puzzled the opponents by changing their positions frequently.
With such quick changes in positions, Sheikh Russel went ahead in the 18th minute when Mithun played Anwar on the right flank and the winger ran deep to put a low cross for Youness, to place the ball at the back of the net from the edge of the six-yard box.
However, Sheikh Russel failed to keep up the momentum in the second half and were exposed at the back where Hasan Al Mamun and Mamun Mia were playing as left-back and right-back respectively, which are not their usual positions.
Chittagong Abahani created at least four scoring chances but their forwards narrowly missed the target twice while Sheikh Russel's experienced goalkeeper Biplob Bhattacharjee thwarted two other attempts.
“Obviously, Sheikh Russel is not as good as they were last season as nine key players left,” said Sheikh Russel coach Maruful Haque. “Most of the players are new and they need time to adapt to the style of my game and they will gradually improve.”
“The opponents dominated throughout the second half and we were a bit lucky not to have conceded an equaliser. However, our target was to win by whatever margin and I am happy with three points,” said Maruf, who guided Sheikh Russel to the Federation Cup, professional football league and Independence Cup titles last season.