Manama held by Sitra in goalless draw

TDT | Manama                                                                        

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Manama were held to a goalless draw by Sitra last night while Al Hala and Bahrain Club played to their own stalemate as the first week of action wrapped up in the 2022/2023 Nasser bin Hamad Bahrain Premier Football League.

Manama and Sitra were unable to find the net as they clashed at the National Stadium in Riffa, while Hala and Bahrain Club played to a 1-1 draw at the Khalifa Sports City Stadium in Isa Town.

All four teams took a share of the points to earn their place in the middle of the league table to start the new season. In Manama’s draw, they had a majority of the chances to score and could have gone ahead on multiple occasions.

In the 59th minute, Mohamed Al Marmour came close with a header that went just inches wide of the left post. Substitute Abdulrahman Sayed then had a golden opportunity in the 81st minute from the left of the penalty area, but he hit his shot into the side-netting.

Isa Moussa came on late in the game and also had a chance in the second minute of second-half stoppage time, but his effort was marginally off target. Not even Manama’s Mahdi Abduljabbar, the league’s top scorer from last season, could break the deadlock.

Meanwhile, Al Hala and Budaiya were on target on either side of the break in their contest. Hala took the lead in the 33rd minute through Cameroonian professional Alain Eyenga following an unforced gaffe by Budaiya’s goalkeeper Omar Salem.

A free-kick by Fahad Jasim Ahmed into the box did not appear to pose any danger and Salem was set to comfortably collect the long pass with both hands. But he surprisingly fumbled the ball and Eyenga was in the right place to take advantage.

He was the first to make it to the loose possession and needed only to tap the ball home into an empty net. That was enough to give Hala the lead heading into the locker rooms. Budaiya answered right away after the restart, scoring in the 49th minute.

Brazilian Murilo de Souza Felisberto provided the equaliser, heading home from an acute angle off a corner kick. Both teams tried hard to find a winner over the game’s closing stages, but neither succeeded. League action continues on October 5 following a short break for international play.