JEDDAH: Al-Hilal handed Al-Nasr their first defeat in the Saudi Professional League yesterday, winning 2-1 in a top of the table match at the King Fahd International Stadium in Riyadh last night.

In an evenly balanced tie both teams were on the offensive right form the start. Hilal were better organized than their rivals and came close to scoring on a number of occasions with Yaser Al-Qahtani, Swedish professional Christian Wilhelmsson and Ahmad Al-Fareedi coming close. Hilal managed to keep rival Brazilian professional Jose Elton under close watch giving little or no room for the striker to maneuver.

Hilal opened their account in the 18th minute when Al-Qahtani headed home a fine cross from inside the penalty area.

The goal resulted following a fine run by Christian Wilhelmsson, who essayed the crisp center. Al-Qahtani, showing a clean pair of heels, outstripped the defenders to meet the cross head on. With only goalkeeper Muhammad Al-Khojali to beat, the Saudi international showed fine anticipation and finesse to direct the ball home. Hilal continued to attack in search for another goal and exerted pressure on the Nasr defense, who in turn relied on fast counterattacks. Hilal assumed total control of the midfield leaving little for Nasr to do in that area. Hilal got their second goal in the 37th minute through Ahmad Al-Fareedi, who worked the ball inside the penalty box before blasting a strong ground shot that went past the right hand of the goalkeeper.

Nasr came in the second half with the determination to score and reduce the margin but a strong defense thwarted all their attempts. With the scores 0-2 against them, Nasr’s fans began leaving the stadium 10 minutes before time unwilling to see their team crash to their first defeat in the league.

Those who stayed back were treated to a consolation from Nasr’s star Elton, who reduced the margin during injury time. Elton swirled a free kick from just outside the penalty box to the back of the net. This effort came too late for Nasr to make a match of it. Nasr dropped to third position with 11 points. Hilal are now second with 13 points.

Nasr manager Talal Al-Rasheed said the team did not deserve to win and described their performance against Hilal as poor. He said, “I cannot explain why the team played like this, but definitely it was not our day. It is too early in the league and we have a chance to make up for the points lost.”