Just when Sheikh Russel looked like holding on to Touati Younes's first half goal and seal three points, the Oranges were awarded a penalty by referee Mansoor Azad after substitute defender Pradip Barua tripped Junior inside the box.

The Nigerian made no mistake to hammer the ball into the back of the net from the spot for his 14th goal, which placed him atop the scorers' list, just above Mohammedan's 13-goal Paul.

Despite the draw, Russel moved to the top with 26 points after 15 games but remained under the threat of being removed by at least two teams -- Abahani and Muktijoddha -- by the end of this week.

Syed Nayeemuddin's side on the other hand, wasted a golden comeback chance as they improved their collection to 23 points after 14 outings.

In a seesaw battle, Russel got the first chance when Younes set his fellow Moroccan midfielder Ighir in the third minute. But much to the disappointment of his teammates, the sliding Ighir failed to connect the ball in front of an open net.

At the other end, Jalaluddin came close to give Brothers lead after ten minutes but his diving header on a superb centre by Masud Rana missed the mark for inches.

Two minutes later, Russel escaped another Brothers assault as Mamun's chipped effort came off the crossbar.

Russel reasserted soon but Bulbul failed to read Ighir's pass inside the box midway through the first half before they and went ahead in the 34th minute through Younes, who celebrated his return to the side after a one-match suspension with his sixth league goal.

Younes, dashing down the middle with a through from Moroccan midfielder Saad, shrugged off a challenge by Rony and drilled a low drive into the right hand post of Nizam, who appeared to be blind-sighted by his teammates.

The Brothers keeper, however, pulled off two fine saves in the second half when he palmed over a 30-yarder by Ighir before going full stretch to deny Tanvir's shot.

Wajed Gazi's boys suddenly went on the defensive, leaving Younes as the lone striker after Bulbul was taken off for Pradip.

This allowed Brothers to press hard and almost score the equaliser in the 75th minute but for fullback Aminul's goalline save on a header by Shakil during a corner.

The pressure finally told in the dying moments as Pradip committed the unpardonable mistake in a bid to stop Junior and conceded the spotkick.