Riffa beat Budaiya for league-leading eighth win

TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Mahdi Humaidan and Ali Madan scored on either side of halftime to lift Riffa to a resounding 2-0 victory over Budaiya last night in the 2020/2021 Nasser bin Hamad Bahrain Premier Football League.

Riffa claimed their league-leading eighth win in nine matches with the result, as they improved to 25 points.

They extended their lead at the top of the table to eight points from their closest challengers. Manama was also victorious in one of yesterday’s other matches, romping past Al Ahli 5-2.

In the third game, Al Najma scored in the fifth minute of stoppage time to salvage a 1-1 stalemate against Malkiya. In Riffa’s triumph, Humaidan opened their account in the 26th minute with a header in front of goal.

Humaidan received a short pass from Hashem Sayed Isa and made no mistake with his effort. Later on in the 76th minute, it was Madan’s turn to strike.

He was on the receiving end of a low cross from the left of the box from Mohammed Marhoon, and all he needed to do was tap the ball into the net.

Budaiya suffered their fourth loss and stayed on nine points on the league table.

Meanwhile, Mahdi Abduljabbar and Issa Moussa both finished with a brace for Manama in their big win, while Mohammed Adel supplied their other goal. For Ahli, on target in the loss were Senegalese professional Mamadou Drame and Isa Ahmed Khalib.

Manama improved to 17 points on the standings to rise to second place following their fifth triumph, while Ahli stayed in the bottom half with eight points after their fifth loss.

Finally, Najma and Malkiya were engaged in a thrilling ending to their contest. Malkiya substitute Ahmed Yusuf Abdulla put his team ahead with a 72nd-minute rocket from a few yards outside the penalty box.

That appeared to have given Malkiya the win, but Najma was not done.

Ali Khalil took advantage of some poor Malkiya defending to fire in the equaliser in the 95th minute. Malkiya’s Mohamed Maki Ali tried to make a clearance but his poorly hit ball went right towards Khalil in the face of goal, and the Najma man hit it home.

Najma claimed their third draw in nine matches and improved to nine points, while Malkiya stayed bottom on the standings with six points following their third stalemate in eight games.