Al Khaldiya go top with win over Ahli

TDT | Manama                                                      

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Defending champions Al Khaldiya rose to the top of the standings following a 1-0 victory over Al Ahli in their week 14 game of the 2023/2024 Nasser bin Hamad Bahrain Premier Football League.

Sami Frioui fired in the winning goal in the 86th minute from the penalty spot after a handball from their opponents.

Frioui slotted home into the bottom-right corner of the net.

Khaldiya claimed their seventh win in 14 matches as they improved to 27 points on the standings.

They are tied with former solo leaders Riffa but occupy the top spot with a superior goal difference. Riffa, however, have a game in hand.

Ahli suffered only their fifth loss and stayed on 21 markers in the top half of the table.

In other matches, Hidd defeated Al Shabab 1-0 while Busaiteen and Sitra played to a 2-2 stalemate.

Ismail Lakraei scored a late winner for Hidd in the 90th minute of play to lift them past Shabab.

Hidd are bottom of the table and they claimed only their third win in 14 tries, improving to 12 points.

Shabab suffered their sixth loss and stayed on 14 markers. Meanwhile, Sitra were first and last to strike in their draw against Busaiteen.

Amir Rostai opened their account with a penalty in the 11th minute, but Fabio Gama Dos Santos equalised for Busaiteen just three minutes on.

Saleh Al Zubaidi then put Busaiteen ahead with just seven minutes to play in the game, but Ali Al Asfoor salvaged a point for Sitra in the second minute of second-half stoppage time.

Busaiteen went to 15 points while Sitra improved to 17 following the result.