JEDDAH, 1 March 2006 — Al-Shabab turned a drawish match into a well-deserved 2-1 victory over Al-Ittihad last night in the Saudi Soccer League at the Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal Stadium here.
A killer last-minute goal had Ittihad’s hopes of victory evaporating in thin air and left Shabab sitting pretty at the top of the standings.
In the last minute of stoppage time forward Ettram stroked a powerful shot that could not be stopped by Ittihad’s goalkeeper Tasser Al-Nitaf.
The first half ended 1-1 when Shabab’s left wing Zaid Al-Muwalad penetrated the host team’s defense to maneuver the keeper and booted the ball in the left corner for the first goal of the match in the 36th minute. One minute later Prince Tago cut clean of the defense and scored the equalizer. The match was played at a fast pace between the two teams.
With the victory Shabab increased their point total to 43 from 19 matches. The home team remain at 29 points in third position after 15 games played thus far in the competition.
On Friday Al-Hilal and Al-Nasr will meet in a derby match in Riyadh. In the first stage of the Saudi league both teams tied 1-1. Although Nasr dropped out of contention for a spot in the final four they will be out to get Hilal.
On Saturday there will be three matches between Al-Ansar and Al-Ittifaq, Al-Qadisiya and Abha and Taie and Hazem.
