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Al Hilal trounce Al Jazira to remain runners-up

Al Hilal of Saudi Arabia strengthened their hopes to secure a berth in the last 16 of the 2011 AFC Champions League following their deserved 3-1 victory over visiting team Al Jazira in their group "A" encounter played on Tuesday April 5 evening at King Fahd Bin Abdul Aziz Stadium in Riyadh. The winners are currently in the second position, three points behind leaders Sepahan of Iran who have collected full points after beating Al Gharafa of Qatar 2-0 in the same night to top the standings with 9 points. Al Hilal are now five points ahead of both Al Jazira and Al Gharafa with six points from three matches after losing their opening game to Sepahan.

Al Hilal controlled the match from the word go giving their contenders hard time. Their continuous efforts soon paid dividends when Ahmad Ali gave them the lead only three minutes into the game. Inspired by this early goal, the hosts looked the better and dangerous side after creating a number of attacks and scoring chances and came closer to add their second goal. But it was only ten minutes later when Christian Williamson ran down the right flank before crossing the ball to Yasser Al Qahtani who ghosted to the six yard area in between two defenders before sending a perfect header that beat Al Jazira's hapless custodian Ali Khusaif to make it 2-0 in the 13th minute.

Al Jazira missed the efforts of their two Brazilian players Bare and Ricardo De Oliveira along with Argentinean Matías Delgado, Subait Khatir, Ibrahima Diaky, Hilal Saeed, Khalid Sabeel and Abdullah Mousa amongst others in Tuesday's game. But despite of this fact, the losers made every bit of effort to come back to the match and they succeeded to reduce the deficit through Ahmad Juma'a who capitalized on the ball crossed by Abdullah Jasim from inside the box in the 19th minute. Al Jazira played brilliantly afterwards to level the score and they came close to make it in many occasions, but the hosts' defense stood solid on their way. The two teams played a balanced game in the last minutes of the first half, went on their attempts to score more goals but they failed ending the session with a 2-1 for the Saudi side.

Al Hilal's striker Williamson came close to score the third goal 8 minutes after the break but his left-footer volley flew over the cross bar. Al Qahtani made another attempt in the 63rd minute when he collected a loose ball and launched a rocket-like volley for keeper Ali Khusaif to save bravely diverting it onto the bar. Nawaf Al Abid squandered another sitter when he found himself with only the goalie to beat but his shot went wide five minutes to the final whistle.

At the time the match was heading towards a 2-1 win for Al Hilal, Mohammad Al Shalhoub put the game beyond Al Jazira's reach when he netted the third goal with an individual effort. He collected the ball in the injury time, past a defender before sending it into the roof of the net from inside the box to secure a 3-1 win for the home squad.