Manama edge past Al Najma

TDT | Manama                                                    

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Manama posted a narrow 3-2 victory over Al Najma last night in their ninth week clash in the 2023/2024 Nasser bin Hamad Bahrain Premier Football League. ‘

Two goals in the second half broke a 1-1 deadlock at the break and the victors held on after conceding a late penalty to come away with the hard-earned result.

Meanwhile, in yesterday’s other fixture, Hidd and Busaiteen played to a 2-2 stalemate. It was an affair between the league’s two bottom sides. Last night’s matches wrapped up week nine’s action.

Manama powered ahead in the 13th minute against Najma following a perfectly timed pass from their own half unleashed Facundo Agustin Tobares for a two-on-one against Najma goalkeeper Ashraf Waheed, and with teammate Ebrahim Al Khattal on his right.

Tobares opted to take the shot himself and he sent the ball into the bottom-right corner of goal from the left of the box. Manama’s celebrations were short lived, however, as Edimar Ribeiro Da Costa Junior levelled the scores just three minutes later.

A shot by Najma’s Abdulla Al Masaeed was uncleared by Manama goalkeeper Fayez Al Rashidi, and Da Costa Junior pounced on the opportunity, tapping in from close range. That forged the tie at the interval. Just 10 minutes after the restart, Manama regained the lead and Tobares was again on target.

He slotted home after some porous Najma defending, finally beating Waheed who had made a number of impressive saves until that point. Al Khattal then virtually sealed the win in the 70th minute, scoring Manama’s third with a header in the face of goal.

He guided in a shot from Elvis Marley Aparecido Bittencourt, which was slightly off target. Najma were able to cut the final deficit after being awarded a penalty on the stroke of full time. Mohammed Al Rumaihi was taken down in the box by Mujtaba Abdul Ali, and Da Costa Junior coolly converted.

With the result, Manama claimed their third win in nine matches and improved to 11 points, although still remained in the bottom-half of the league table. Najma suffered their third loss and stayed a point ahead of Manama.

In last night’s other match, Hidd took the lead in the 21st minute through Jacques Medina Iemopele, who scored from close range. Just two minutes later, Busaiteen were awarded a spot kick for a handball violation in the box. Robson Da Silva stepped forward to take the shot and he sent the ball into bottom-left corner of goal.

Hidd were in front once again in the 30th minute after Hisham Ahmed Mansour scored following a scramble in the box. But Busaiteen were later given another penalty in the 55th minute following a foul by goalkeeper Mohsen Ali Yousef, and Robson again took the shot and made no mistake with his effort.

Following the draw, Hidd improved to eight points from nine games, and Busaiteen went to seven markers—still as the league’s bottom teams.