Needing at least one point from their last match in the Super Six to finish among the top four, the Dhaka giants were sweating at the break after Samabesh forward Sohag's 36th minute strike put the visitors ahead.

But Nakib, who has lost his place in the Mohammedan starting line-up after return of the national stars, proved to be the rescuer with goals on the hour and then eight minutes from time.

The Black and Whites, who drew goalless with second-placed Brothers Union and thrashed Bangladesh Army 6-0 in their previous outings, ended the six-team table on eight points with their second successive victory while bottom-of-the-table Samabesh finished their maiden national campaign on one point.

The last semifinalists will be decided today from the match between last year's losing finalists Muktijoddha Sangsad (five points) and Bangladesh Army (3 points). A draw will see Muktijoddha set a semifinal clash against table-toppers Abahani while only win will get Army through. Muktijoddha will meet Brothers if they win by a four-goal margin today, making way for another Mohammedan-Abahani battle in the semis.

The Munshiganj outfit made a lively start and their mighty rivals had no answers to the neat short-passes in the middle. Moha-mmedan's three-man central defence, working overtime in absence of Nigerian Peter Odaf, negotiated a series of Samabesh attacks before Alfaz threatened to score in the 27th minute. But the national star's effort from a 25-yard freekick was parried by Samabesh goalkeeper Al Amin for a corner.

Samabesh, who fought bravely against Abahani in the last game but unfortunately suffered a huge 6-1 loss, broke the deadlock from a goalmouth scramble when Sohag shot the ball home after his teammate Monir's low drive came off goalkeeper Biplab.

The lead did not last long as Nakib, who replaced midfielder Khokon at halftime, relieved the Black and White fans when the former national striker received a left-side centre from Munna with his chest and blasted a volley into the back of the net.

Mohammedan, without three of their foreign players, pressed hard for the match winner and Nakib almost got one in the 66th minute but his shot from point-blank range was blocked by Al Amin.

Man-of-the-match Nakib, who captained Mohammedan in the earlier stage of the competition but had to hand over the armband to Alfaz, had the last laugh too when he stabbed a low cross by Matiur Munna into the roof of the net for the winning strike.

Yellow cards: Khokon, Asad (Mohammedan) and Jahangir, Sohag (Samabesh).

TEAMS
MOHAMMEDAN: Biplab, Rezaul, Nazrul, Hassan, Khokon (Nakib), Arman Aziz, Asad, Munna, Mintu (Kaiser), Francis and Alfaz.

SAMABESH: Al Amin, Farooq, Nahid, Dulal, Prashanta, Mamun, Jahangir, Moloy, Arafat, Sohag and Monir.

Referee: Abdur Rakib.