Messias goal lifts East Riffa over Najma

TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

East Riffa posted a hard-earned 1-0 victory over Al Najma last night in the 2020/2021 Nasser bin Hamad Bahrain Premier Football League.

Brazilian Yuri de Jesus Messias scored the decisive goal for East Riffa, who claimed their seventh victory in 12 matches with the result.

They improved to 22 points and were able to close the gap to current league leaders Riffa but remained third on the league table.

Najma suffered their sixth loss and stayed on 12 points in the bottom half of the standings.

East Riffa enjoyed a dream start to the contest after they took the lead in only the second minute of play following a costly Najma error.

Nigerian professional Vincent Emmanuel had a botched clearance and Messias made the most of the gifted opportunity.

Securing possession, he fired in a powerful shot from inside the box that flew past Najma’s diving goalkeeper Abdulla Alkaabi.

His strike eventually proved enough to settle the affair.

Meanwhile, Manama registered a 1-0 victory over bottom side Busaiteen.

Mahdi Abduljabbar scored the winner in the 53rd minute off an assist from skipper Issa Mousa.

Manama improved to 23 points to go second on the table, just ahead of East Riffa. Busaiteen stayed on just eight points.