RIYADH: Al-Hilal left it late to win 2-0 at Al-Fayha and move 10 points clear of Al-Nassr at the top of the table on Friday.
As the 90th minute mark approached, it looked as if the visitors were going to head back to the capital with just a point before center-back Ali Al-Bulaihi and Aleksandar Mitrovic popped up to win the game, a 20th successive victory in all competitions.
While it was a deserved victory for Al-Hilal, it was harsh on the hosts. Al-Hilal dominated the first half with almost three-quarters of the possession and an equal share of the attempts on goal, but at the 45-minute mark it was goalless.
After 20 minutes, Mohamed Kanno rose well to head powerfully against the top of the bar from a Ruben Neves corner but the Mexican referee had already blown for a foul.
Home fans had Vladimir Stojkovic to thank on the half-hour for the scoreline remaining goalless with a fine double save. Saud Abdulhamid sent over a trademark cross from the right and it was met by a firm header from Sergej Milinkovic-Savic. It was destined for the left side of the goal but Stojkovic got there quickly to push the ball out. It was not yet safe as Michael stormed in to fire a low strike from the rebound but the Serbian shot stopper blocked once more.
Just two minutes later the leaders came even closer. Salem Al-Dawsari worked his magic down the left, skipping past a defender to slip through a perfect pass for Mitrovic to run onto. The in-form striker hit the ball first time only to see his low shot bounce back off Stojkovic’s right-hand post and away to safety.
The hosts struggled to create any clear-cut chances but after 36 minutes Henry Onyekuru got ahead of Kalidou Koulibaly to head just over. They would have been ahead soon after with Sultan Mandash finding acres of space on the left and Fashion Sakala unmarked in the area, but the pass was a poor one. Soon after, Al-Dawsari forced another great save from Stojkovic with a fine shot on the turn.
The Asian Player of the Year should have scored in the final seconds of the first half. Abdulhamid got to the right byline and pulled it back for Al-Dawsari, in space just outside the 6-yard box, but he lifted his shot over the bar.
It was a similar story in the second half after Stojkovic had gone off injured to be replaced by Ahmed Al-Kasser. Milinkovic-Savic shot just wide early on and just before the hour should have done better than side-footing his shot from inside the area into the arms of the substitute keeper.
With 11 minutes remaining Mitrovic headed an Abdullah Al-Hamdan cross just over the bar and it really started to look as if it was not going to happen for the 18-time champions.
Then came the breakthrough and few on the away team cared that it was not the most attractive of goals. Neves floated a free kick over to the right of the area, Milinkovic-Savic headed to the near post and Al-Bulaihi bundled the ball in. The celebrations showed what it meant to the Riyadh giants and the defender blew up a blue balloon.
It was almost popped in the 90th minute, however, as the hosts thought they were back on level terms after Sakala fired home a low shot across Yassine Bounou from the right side of the area only for the goal to be ruled out for offside in the buildup.
Coach Jorge Jesus and his men let out a sigh of relief especially after Mitrovic shot home from the spot on 101 minutes and another victory was secured.
