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Saudi Team Alittihad beat Bani Yas with a lone goal

Alittihad of Saudi Arabia continued their winning streak after a hard fought win over Bani Yas by a solitary goal in their AFC Champions League third round match in Group "B" played tonight at Prince Abdullah Al Faisal Stadium in Jeddah. Naef Hazazi scored the all-important goal of the game off a penalty ten minutes before the official time. The winners are currently sitting on top of the group with nine points while Bani Yas are staying in second position with four points.

The hosts created some scoring chances in the opening minutes but they failed to find the target. They could not build up any dangerous attacks in the first 15 minutes and in spite of this fact their striker Naef Hazazi was almost to put them into the lead two minutes later when he capitalized on a severe defensive blunder. He collected the ball and faced the advancing keeper Mohammad Khalaf, but his shot went just near the upright. Supported by a big mass of spectators, the Saudi team tried their best to find the back of the net but they lost all the chances that came their way. Senegalese Andre Sengahoor came close to open the score in the 30th minute with a strong header that saved by Alittihad goalie Mabrook Zayed. His teammate Fawzi Basheir also lost another sitter six minutes later and his second attempt went over the cross bar five minutes before the breather. A third chance was lost by Sengahoor three minutes before the end of the first session.

At the beginning of the second half Hazazi lost a lovely chance for Alittihad when his shot hit the cross bar and this was followed by another sitter for Ridha Taker, but Bani Yas goalkeeper saved bravely. Alittihad pressed hard looking for a goal but their rivals’ defenders stood solid on their way.

Bani Yas’s coach Calderon made two successive substitutions bringing in Mohammad Saleh and Spanish Yaste to replace Ahmad Ali and Thamir Mohammad. The two teams exerted good efforts in the last minutes and exchanged attacks, but the hosts succeeded in scoring the lone goal of the game off a penalty kick netted by Naef Hazazi in the 80th minute to snatch three invaluable points for his team.