New Radiant SC maintained their domination and superiority in Group E of AFC Cup beating Abahani Limited Dhaka 5-1 with a hattrick from Ali Fasir(19′,51′,56′) and two goals from Ali Ashfaq(58′,88′) at the Male National Stadium on Wednesday.
Ali Fasir opened the scoring for the Male side in the 19th minute from a penalty after Ali Ashfaq was bundled down in the box by Ndukaku Alison’s mistimed challenge to stop his diagonal run.New Radiant SC forwards Ali Fasir and Ali Ashfaq stretched the Abahani defence with quick interchange of play and switching positions but failed to extend the lead for the remaining of the first half.
Back in the second half, Seiya Kojiyama gave the visitors an equalizer in the 46th minute with a thunderous volley from just outside the box from the right leaving the keeper with no chance, as Abahani drew level 1-1.
Stung by the equalizer it was all New Radiant show from there on as the home side hammered three goals in seven minutes to put the game beyond contention. Ali Fasir finished off from a brilliant through ball in the 51st minute as the Abahani Limited backline was caught napping leaving Ali Fasir with space and time to finish with just the goalkeeper at his mercy.
Ali Fasir completed his hattrick in the 56th minute with another perfectly timed penetrative run as the Abhani defence was caught stranded from Ali Ashfaq’s chipped long ball.Ali Fasir opened his body nicely to bury the ball past the keeper’s near post into the net to give New Radiant 3-1 lead.
Ali Ashfaq joined the goal feast as the Maldivian forward added two brilliant individual goals in the 58th minute and 88th minute to give New Radiant SC a resounding 5-1 win and topping the Group E on account of a better head to head record with Bengaluru FC.