By Mohammed Al-Kinani
JEDDAH – Al-Nasr beat Al-Ittihad 2-1 in a match put off from the 8th round of the Zain Saudi Professional League championship here Sunday.
Abdullah Al-Qarni put Nasr in the lead, but Ahmed Hadeed leveled the score for Ittihad. Mohammed Al-Sahlawi, however, handed Nasr the edge with his goal.
Nasr is now fourth in the standings with 24 points, five behind third placed Ittihad. Al-Hilal is on top with 41 points, while Al-Shabab occupied the second spot on 35.
Defender Al-Qarni put Nasr one up through a header in the 30th minute on a perfect cross from skipper Husain Abdul-Ghani in the area.
The two teams went for break with Nasr leading 1-0 despite numerous efforts made by its opponent. Ittihad came from the break with Sultan Al-Numari replacing striker Abdul Aziz Al-Sabiyani. The Tigers showed a renewed vigor and threatened Al-Nasr goalkeeper, Khaled Radhi, more.
Ittihad’s Omani defender Ahmed Hadeed making the most of the opportunity angled Hicham Aboucherouane’s corner kick into the goal to put his team level at 1-1.
Mohammed Al-Sahlawi put Nasr back in front for good when he dodged past Ittihad keeper to put the ball in his net.
Ittihad’s Osama Al-Muallad made a couple of nice moves but was denied by Radhi’s alertness.
The dying minutes of the game saw two Ittihad players sinbinned. Hadeed was first to be sidelined after bringing down Figueroa in the 89th minute. Osama Al-Muallad was also sent off a minute later for aggressive tackle against Nasr’s SR33-million man Al-Sahlawi.
Shabab in final
Al-Shabab reached the Prince Faisal Bin Fahd Cup final following a hard fought 3-2 win over Al-Fateh at the Prince Abdullah Bin Jalawi Sports City Stadium Sunday.
An interesting goal four minutes into extra-time put Shabab in the final when Abdullah Al-Ostta hit the ball into Fateh’s goal after it bounced off the post on his spot kick.
Although Fateh ended the first half up 2-0, Shabab managed to level the score and send the game into extra-time.
Faisal Al-Jam’an had earlier put Fateh in the lead with his 30th minute strike. Rabe’a Al-Sofiyani helped double the lead ten minutes later. Shabab, however, bounced back to level the score through Ali Otaif and in the 50th minute and Abdul Aziz Al-Yousuf in the 64th.
Shabab will play the winner of Saturday’s encounter between Hilal and Ahli.
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