Lacklustre Abahani held to 1-1 draw in AFC Cup

A disorganised Abahani Limited were held to a 1-1 draw by a spirited Aizawl Football Club in their fourth Group E match in the AFC Cup 2018 at Bangabandhu National Stadium in Dhaka Wednesday. Nigerian striker Emeka Darlington put the home side ahead from a penalty in the opening half before Aizawl's Romanian forward Andrei Ionescu equalised in the second half to help the Mizoram outfit earn their first point in their debut appearance in the AFC Cup. The Sky Blues, who outplayed the same side 3-0 away in Guwahati earlier this month, were a different side in terms of players' performance, according to head coach Saiful Bari Titu, who kept the squad unchanged from the previous tie. "Disappointing match. The responsibility is mine," said Titu at the beginning of the post-match press conference. "We were behind in fitness level. Aizawl players ran more, kept more ball possession, had better movement. I think we couldn't play as a team. Not everyone was in the same rhythm."

FULL TIME | Abahani Limited Dhaka (BAN) 1-1 @AizawlFC (IND)!

.@AizawlFC managed to fight back in the second half to secure a draw with Abahani Limited Dhaka! #AFCCup2018 #ALDvAIZ pic.twitter.com/NTgsTC8sd4— AFC Cup (@AFCCup) April 25, 2018

Abahani couldn't take advantage of having taller forwards in Sunday Chizoba and Emeka, compared to the average height of Aizawl defenders, in the set-pieces. For instance, the first corner taken by experienced full-back Waly Faisal was wasted due to a low delivery. Titu admitted that his players showed less urgency, played a slow game while the fitness and intensity of the opponent’s defenders made the task difficult for his foreign forwards. Both the sides struggled at the beginning to find the rhythm but the visitor had better ball possession and could have opened the scoring at the quarter-hour mark when goalkeeper Shahidul Alam Sohel tipped away a dangerous header of Mapuia. A minute later, Nigerian defender Alison Udoka cleared a grounder of Leonce Dodoz from the goal-line. Japanese midfielder Seija Kojima, who had a comparatively poor game by his standard, earned a free-kick in the 20th minute but Sunday's left-footed curved effort from 25 yards out hit the woodwork before Aizawl keeper Avilash Paul made a flying save on the rebound. Three minutes later, Sunday squandered a glorious opportunity, sending the ball over from close range. Emeka broke the deadlock in the 31st minute after being brought down by Lalram inside the box. The Nigerian sent the Aizawl netminder the wrong way with a calm finish.

Latest #AFCCup2018 Group E standings after Matchday 4! pic.twitter.com/r5WlIyVY2g

— AFC Cup (@AFCCup) April 25, 2018

Ionescu looked more threatening on the wings following resumption and the Romanian brought parity in the 65th minute with a close-range right-footed shot that beat Sohel en route to crashing into the top-right corner, after being fed by his Ivorian teammate Dodoz. Abahani went all-out for the winning goal in the last few minutes of the tie with Sunday penetrating the opponent’s defence continuously. Sunday saw his shot and header from inside the box denied in the last two minutes of stipulated time. Alison hit the right-post from the six-yard box in the third minute of injury time before seeing his header blocked moments before the final whistle. Both the coaches admitted that there should have been more goals but agreed that it was a "50-50 game". Aizawl head coach Santosh Kashyap was not a happy man at the beginning of the presser but later said, "Definitely, I'm happy. At least we lost to this team at home 3-0 and took away one point (away) with this young side. It's a creditable (performance)."RESULTAbahani 1 (Emeka 31 – P) 1 Aizawl (Andrei Ionescu 65)