Coming in as a substitute for Moroccan Inani with ten minutes to go, Monwar made an immediate impact, heading home the all-important goal in the 83rd minute and with it confirming a repeat final clash with Muktijoddha on Tuesday.

The two sides met in the Independence Day Gold Cup final on April 16, which Muktijoddha won 2-0.

The result on Saturday also meant another disappointment for two popular giants Abahani and Mohammedan, who both were eliminated from the semifinal stage of the Independence Cup.

Muktijoddha won the first semifinal on Friday against Mohammedan by an identical margin.

Expectations were high when Abahani, fresh after their 5-1 demolition of Mohammedan, took to the field, with nearly ten thousand loyal Sky Blue supporters cheering from the stands.

But an ultra defensive approach by both sides turned the match into spectators' plight. The jejune affair was almost heading into extra time before Monwar broke the evening's duck.

The national midfielder was quick to pounce on a rebounder after Abahani goalkeeper Nizam could only partially parry off an Emily header from a Liton flag kick.

Abahani, who suffered an embarrassing 4-0 defeat against Brothers in the Independence Day Gold Cup semifinal, had an opportunity to turn the table around, but their striking pair of Ujjal and Farhad were totally off colour.

The Dhanmondi-based club controlled the proceedings in the first-half despite missing their hard-working captain and midfielder Joy and created the best chance in the 37th minute. But Brothers' young custodian Tareq foiled a brilliant combined attack, fisting away a Ndem right-footed salvo from the top of the box.

After the barren first-half both teams ran aimlessly from one end to the other and the match only came to life once Brothers winger Parvez Babu set two defence-splitting passes for Edwards and Emily, but both the strikers failed to connect in front of an open net.

After that Abahani launched some quick counterattacks and created three good chances to break the deadlock. But Farhad, Ghanaian Ibrahim and Ndem wasted those chances shooting wide off the mark.

Brothers coach Wajed Gazi was a relieved man after the victory but said that Abahani played better football.

"I must say Abahani played better football than us. We got some rhythm after midfielder Liton came to the field in the second-half. We even failed to create too many chances, but finally one was good enough for us," said the veteran coach adding that Russian striker Edwards was not up to his mark.

On the other hand his Abahani counterpart Amalesh Sen blamed his defence for the goal and said that they badly felt the absence of Joy in the midfield.

"Both Monwar and Emily were unmarked. We got some good chances but failed to capitalise and I believe the absence of Joy cost us the match," said Amalesh.

Yellow cards: Abul, Inani and Monwar (Brothers), Nizam, Prodip, Ujjal, Selim and Farhad (Abahani).

TEAMS
BROTHERS: Tareq, Sujon, Jewel, Masud Rana, Siraji, Parvez Babu, Pranatosh (Liton), Abul, Inani (Monwar), Edward and Emilly (Shuvro).

ABAHANI: Nizam, Obaidur, Prodip, Shipon, Lajuk, Ujjal, Selim, Ndem, Zahed (Abdullah), Farhad and Ibrahim.

Referee: Tayeeb Hasan.