Muhammad Rahman
A CLOSE encounter in the Inner London Football League saw Stepney see off champions London Tigers 2-1 in an entertaining Thursday night clash.
Sham Zaman and Muktadir Ali combined to set up Mufi Uddin, who opened the scoring for Stepney. Despite a spell of sustained pressure by last season’s runners-up, it was the champions who came back to level matters after capitalising on their opponent’s momentary lapse in concentration in defence.
The second half saw both teams go at it in search of a win, and captain Zaheer Saleh came closest as a thunder strike rattled the post after a lay off by Ruhul Alam. With five minutes left on the clock it was incisive play between the energetic Shane Baptiste, Russell Choudhury and Harun Rashid – and the smooth interplay resulted in Jamal Rahman scoring what turned out to be the winner. Irfan Haji in the Stepney goal marshalled the back line to see the game home.
Speaking after the game, player manager Emdad Rahman commented, “With SYA taking the points against G7 and Beaumont not playing, it was important to maintain our form. This league is very tight, and doing the double against the champions is no mean feat. Well done everybody – but there’s a long way to go.”
The win doesn’t mean goodbye for this campaign, as both teams will face each other in the TVL Cup Final at the end of the season.
•Read more about it: Stepney FC reach TVL Cup Final Stepney progress to TVL Cup knockout stages
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