JEDDAH, 7 November 2007 — In a strong derby match in Riyadh between two football giants Al-Hilal and Al-Nasr, Hilal hammered out a 3-1 victory last night.
Hila thus moved up the Saudi Football League standings by locking up the three important points.
The Prince Faisal ibn Fahd stadium was full of fans from both sides, the result of pre-game hype by team managers of both clubs promising fans the three points. In the end, it was Hilal that made good on their promise.
All four goals of the match came in the first half alone and both teams played a scoreless second half.
Hilal drew first blood in the 12th minute with a spectacular goal by Abdul Aziz Al-Khathran who angled his shot nicely that made it impossible for the Nasr goalkeeper to stop.
This put a spark to the match and both teams were forced to open their lines for attacks and counterattacks. As Nasr were searching for an equalizer, Abdullah Al-Zuwairi of Hilal came in the 16th minute to deliver a nice header inside the penalty box where he broke free from Nasr defenders. He did not find any difficulty guiding the ball into the back of the net.
Just as when many fans thought the game was already in the bag for Hilal, Saad Al-Harthi had other ideas. He received a nice pass inside the penalty box in the 17th minute, squared up and launched a strong shot that hit the bar and crossed the goal line to announce the Nasr comeback with their first goal and ignite the match even more. Nasr got the better of the skirmishes that followed.
The third and final goal of the first half and the match came in the 39th minute when Hilal defender Fahd Al-Mufarrej received a nice head pass inside the penalty box in the same exact place from where the second goal was scored. He only needed to kick the ball backward in the back of Nasr net.
Down 3-1 Nasr tried hard to cut the deficit but all their efforts were in vain as Mohammad Al-Daie managed to save many a dangerous Nasr attempt. Hilal jumped to the fourth position with 12 points from five matches while Nasr dropped to the sixth position with 11 points.
At the prince Abdullah Al-Faisal Stadium in Jeddah, Al-Ahli deprived Al-Ittifaq valuable three points after they drew 2-2.
Prince Tago was first to score for Ittifaq in the fourth minute from a nice backward shot that went in the back of the net. Knowing that Ahli has a poor defense line with the majority of the defenders injured and to take advantage of the poor defending, Ittifaq broke through in the 21st minute through Saleh Basher who scored the second goal that gave Ittifaq a 2-0 lead at the break.
Ahli came back strongly in the second half determined to put an end to their losing skein. Ahli pulled one back through Waleed Al-Jizani in the 67th minute from a nice header that went past the right hand side of the goalie. Ahli added another goal and the equalizer in the 75th minute courtesy of striker Malek Muaz.
Ahli were further emboldened to go for the three points after the referee red carded Ittifaq’s Salman Al-Hariri. Ahli pushed forward for the remainder of the match missing many opportunities to get the go-ahead goal. With the result of this match, Ahli jumped to the ninth position with seven points while Ittifaq remained in third place with 14 points.
