Sheikh Russel's bid to remain on top of the City-cell B. League table after two rounds came to a pause when they drew 1-1 away at Chittagong against the local Mohammedan.
It was Chittagong Mohamme-dan's second draw that came after their Guinean captain Camara converted a 57th minute penalty to cancel the visitors' first-half lead given by Alfaz Ahmed at the MA Aziz Stadium here yesterday.
Parvez Babu, who conceded the spotkick, was later sent off for a second bookable offence as Russel -- 3-2 winners against Farashganj in the opening round -- were reduced to ten men for the last 20 minutes.
The visitors went ahead after 37 minutes when veteran striker Alfaz, who had also opened Russel's scoring against Farashganj, utilised a through-pass from Moroccan midfielder Said who won a first-team place after missing the first game.
Parvez Babu then threw a lifeline to the local side when the former national midfielder-turned fullback tackled Mohammedan substitute Touhid inside penalty area.
Camara made no mistake to fire the ball past Russel's second-choice keeper Azam Biplab to equalise and push their collection to two points after a 1-1 opening round against Brothers Union.
The port-city Black and Whites, whose short-pass based game created several chances, could not add to the scoring due to poor finishing.
Liberian forward Anthony Doe headed a throw-in from right sideline over the Russel goal after 14 minutes while Guinean recruit Raphael, who went past the whole rival backline on a dazzling run minutes after the Alfaz goal, saw his powerful strike palmed away by the Blues custodian.
Camara also came close to level before the break but the midfielder's weak effort four minutes form halftime gave Azam no trouble.
Both teams got desperate for a winner after 1-1 and it resulted in a several cautions for the two sides and Parvez got his second yellow card for the marching order from referee Azad Rahman in the 71st minute for another foul on Touhid.
Bulbul, who started as Alfaz's striking partner in absence of Moroccan captain Touati Youness, raised hopes of full three points for the Dhaka giants but Mamun Khan made a fine save in the 65th minute under the Mohammedan goal, making all the top five of last season drop points inside the first two rounds.
Mohammedan coach Nazrul Islam Ledu, however, expressed his dissatisfaction over the performance of his team.
"Our players could not give their fifty percent as we were expecting to win due to absence of two of Russel's key Moroccan players Youness and Bourdif," Ledu said.
He also expressed his worries over the fixture as they will have to play their next round match in Dhaka on Wednesday.
"Tomorrow (Monday) is rest day for the players and we have to start for Dhaka on Tuesday to face Abahani. We don't know when our players will practise," he said adding that the authority should have considered the matter before preparing the fixture.
On the other hand, Russel's assistant coach Milon Molla blamed bad referring for their failure to win.
"The match was in our favour. But the 'controversial' penalty did not allow us to win," the former Dhaka Premier League goalkeeper said.
"Our target is win the league and this result was unexpected," he rued.
TEAMS
CHITTAGONG MOHAMMEDAN: Mamun, Sharif, Shawkat, Dhiman, Pradip, Lincoln (Touhid), Daulat, Camara, Doe (Jitu), Ridon (Chowmrin ) and Raphael.
SHEIKH RUSSEL: Biplab, Aminul, Hasan, Zahirul, Parvez, Saiful (Mobarak and Shahidur), Ighir, Said, Tanveer (Rakibul), Alfaz and Bulbul.
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