JEDDAH: Al Ittihad had to fight hard for their 2-1 win over Al-Wehda Club, thus earning themselves crucial three points in round nine of the the Saudi Professional League at the Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal Stadium here yesterday.
The winners top the table with 25 points to their credit and widened the gap to eight points against their nearest rivals Al-Hilal with a one-match advantage while the other teams still lag way behind.
Wehda are in the sixth spot with 12 points. Ittihad dominated most of the first session and pegged Wehda into their own half for the latter half of the match. Wehda looked dangerous and relied mostly on counter attacks which came during the first session.
Ittihad’s domination paid off when skipper Muhammad Nur found the back of the net following a fine free-kick that beat rival goalkeeper to his right a couple of minutes before the breather.
Pumped up by this goal, Ittihad had the rivals under constant pressure which bore fruit at the call of halftime when Abul Aziz Al-Subyani took advantage following a defensive lapse and placed the ball to the left of the rival keeper for a 2-0 lead.
Wehda did not give up and played with renewed vigor in the second half forcing Ittihad to defend their citadel and to rely on their counter attacks.
Wehda got their only goal of the match when a shot was deflected by Ittihad defender Muhammad Salem into his own goal.
Wehda pushed forward in search for an equalizer and nearly secured it when a shot hit the cross bar the rebound which was scrambled to safety by the Ittihad defense. Tried hard as they did but, Wedha found the rival defense a hard nut to crack.
In the other match, Al-Hazem defeated Abha 2-1 in Al-Rass. Al-Hazem jumped to tenth position with eight points while Abha remained last with only four points. The action will continue today with Al-Nasr and Al-Shabab clashing in very important match in Riyadh and Al-Hilal facing Al-Ittifaq in Dammam in yet another very important match for both teams.
Hilal will have to win this match if they want to keep pace with leaders Ittihad and narrow the points margin. Any other result other than a win will be music to Ittihad ears. Hilal is second in standing with 17 points while Ittifaq is fifth with 12 points. Nasr and Shabab are in the third and fourth spots and can climb to the second place if Hilal draw or lose their match against Ittifaq. Nasr is third with 17 points while Shabab is fourth with 15.
