Sitra, Riffa claim key victories

TDT | Manama                      

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com   

Sitra stunned Muharraq while defending champions Riffa outclassed Bahrain Club in their week 12 fixtures last night in the 2022/2023 Nasser bin Hamad Bahrain Premier Football League.

A wonder goal by Mishal Al Shammari lifted Sitra to their 1-0 upset of long-time leaders Muharraq in their contest, while Riffa powered past Bahrain Club 3-0 for a dominant win in their match.

The two games were played at separate venues.

In Sitra’s victory, Al Shammari fired in the match winner in the 69th minute. He was on the receiving end of a long pass supplied by Senegalese professional Seydina Laye Dabo.

Al Shammari masterfully controlled the ball with his chest on his first touch, while evading Muharraq’s Hussain Jameel Mansour and setting himself up for a shot in the process.

He then made no mistake with his right-footed effort, which he sent past veteran international goalkeeper Sayed Mohammed Jaafar into the bottom-right corner of goal.

Al Shammari’s strike proved enough to separate the two sides after 90 minutes and stoppage time.

Sitra claimed their fifth win in 12 games and improved to 20 points on the standings, where they went to fifth.

Muharraq suffered only their first loss of the season, which kept them in second on the league table after Manama leapfrogged them to first with a 3-0 triumph against Hidd on Tuesday.

Muharraq stayed on 23 points, one behind Manama.

Meanwhile, in Riffa’s big win, Sayed Hashem Isa, Komail Al Aswad and Artyom Serdyuk were all on target for the reigning title holders in a one-sided second half.

Isa opened Riffa’s account in the 55th minute after receiving a brilliant through-pass that gave him a one-on-one with the opposing keeper.

He did well to slot the ball home despite pressure from the Bahrain Club back line.

Al Aswad then doubled Riffa’s lead just 10 minutes later. Isa this time supplied the short pass that unleashed Al Aswad, and he raced towards goal and sent the ball home.

Serdyuk applied the final nail in the coffin three minutes from full time.

The Russian scored from the face of goal off a rebound following a shot from Hazza Ali that Bahrain Club goalkeeper Thiago Henrique Francisco de Jesus could not control.

Riffa earned their seventh win and rose to 22 points on the league table, which put them back in the top three behind only Manama and Muharraq.

Bahrain Club stayed on 10 points following their sixth defeat and are third-from-bottom.