Budaiya, Hidd keep premier league hopes alive

TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Budaiya and Hidd kept their hopes alive of keeping their place in the Nasser bin Hamad Bahrain Premier Football League next season following contrasting results in their final matches of the 2021/2022 campaign last night.

Budaiya posted a 2-0 victory over relegated Al Najma, while Hidd held Al Ahli to a 1-1 stalemate. The results earned them eighth and ninth positions, respectively, on the table at the end of 18 weeks of play, and it earned them two berths in a first-ofits-kind mini-tournament with two other clubs from the second division.

This quartet will play a single round for the right to claim one of three places in next year’s premier league, which is set to feature 12 teams. The pair of second division teams are Sitra and Malkiya, who were third and fourth in their season’s final standings. They are hoping to join Al Shabab and Bahrain Club as part of the top flight.

The mini-tournament has yet to be scheduled by the Bahrain Football Association. In Budaiya’s win last night, Mohammed Khaled scored both goals for his team on either side of half time. Khaled first found the net in the 31st minute and then sealed his brace in the 69th.

The result earned Budaiya their fifth win to end the season to go to 17 points, while Najma suffered their 12th loss and stayed on eight points to end their campaign. They will drop to the second division for next year. Meanwhile, in Hidd’s draw, Ahli’s Nozim Babadzhonov from Tajikistan gave his side a dream start with a goal in the third minute.

But Hidd equalised shortly after through Ghanian professional Ishmael Yartey in 23rd minute. The draw was the seventh for Hidd in 18 matches and they improved to 13 points on the standings in ninth place. Ahli went to 17 points in seventh, marginally avoiding the mini-tournament with a better head-to-head record against Budaiya.