Riffa capture last-gasp win

TDT | Manama                                                      

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Leaders Riffa escaped with a last-gasp 1-0 victory over Manama last night in the 11th week of action in the 2023/2024 Nasser bin Hamad Bahrain Premier Football League.

Bahrain national team player Ali Hassan Saeed scored the winner three minutes from fulltime after it appeared that the two title hopefuls were headed for a share of the points.

Also yesterday, Al Shabab and Busaiteen played to a 1-1 stalemate in a game between two of the bottom three clubs on the table.

The two matches were played at separate venues. In Riffa’s win, Saeed saved his team from losing out on crucial points and took all three from their rivals with his late decider.

Earlier in the contest, Ebrahim Al Khattal missed an opportunity to give Manama the lead in the first half after they were awarded a penalty kick.

But Al Khattal misfired on his shot and hit the crossbar. The match thus headed into the interval goalless, setting the stage for Saeed’s late heroics.

Riffa extended their lead atop the standings as they improved to 22 points following their seventh win in 10 matches.

Manama, on the other hand, suffered their fifth loss in 11 games and remained on 14 points in the bottom half of the table.

Meanwhile, in last night’s other fixture, Busaiteen took the lead against Shabab four minutes from the break when Abdulmalek Bendalal tapped the ball in from the face of goal.

His effort came following a corner-kick and Shabab failed to clear.

Bendalal was in the right place at the right time as the ball fall to his path and he needed only to guide it in to give Busaiteen the advantage at the half.

After the re-start, Shabab drew level in the 65th minute through Alyson Romeu Dantas De Andrade, who scored with a deflected shot from inside the box.

Busaiteen had given the ball away too easily, which led to the Shabab equaliser.

Following the result, Shabab salvaged a point and improved to 10 following their fourth draw in 11 matches.

Previously bottom-of-the table Busaiteen registered their fifth draw and went to eight points, level with Hidd but they were able to move up a spot on the standings with a better goal difference.

League action continues tonight with the final two games of week 11.

Defending champions Al Khaldiya take on East Riffa while Muharraq face off with Sitra.

Both matches games are scheduled for simultaneous 7pm kick-offs at separate venues.