Samereh double steers Esteqlal past Pas

IRNA - Forward Ali Samereh fulfilled his promise as he hit twice to wrap up a priceless spirit-raising victory for
Esteqlal over Iran Pro League holder Pas in a fifth-week derby in Azadi Stadium in western Tehran Sunday.
Pas, which was in the saddle in the first 25 minutes and had a national midfielder Javad Nekounam`s free kick bounced back by the crossbar in the 20th minute, fell behind on 27 minutes.
Alireza Nikbakht-Vahedi, Esteqlal`s national player on the left flank, unleashed a powerful 25-yard drive, which was palmed away by Pas keeper Hassan Roudbarian but Samereh outpaced his marker to reach the rebound and score the opener from close range.
Samereh celebrated the second eight minutes after the break. Following a blunder by national defender Mohammad Nosrati, Esteqlal striker Gholam-Reza Enayati collected a loose ball in the area to leave the unmarked Samereh alone with an empty net to find.
Not to be outdone, Pas head coach Majid Jalali threw on forward Arash Borhani, who minimized the gap with a header in the 79th minute.
Pas placed the blues` woodwork under pressure in the last minutes to salvage a point but the struggling Esteqlal secured a win badly needed prior to its traditional derby against archrival Persepolis
next Friday.
Earlier in the day, the visiting Persepolis extracted three points from an insipid match against Shamoushak in Shohada Stadium in the northern city Noshahr.
Reza Jabbari dispossessed the negligent Reza Moslemzadeh of the ball three minutes from time to curl a well-flighted cross for substitute Mehrdad Owladi, who scored the winner with a post-assisted
header.
In another Sunday`s game, Foulad of Khuzestan fought back to tie with the home side Barq 1-1 in Hafezieh Stadium in southern city Shiraz.
Barq took the lead on 41 minutes as Behrouz Pak-Niyat opened the scoring but his goal was canceled out by national midfielder Seyed Mohammad Alavi in the 65th minute.
The visitor came close to the winner 12 minutes from time when Hadi Imani brought down Ahmad Mo`menzadeh and the referee Mohsen Qahremani showed the spot. But the Khuzestani side, which had missed a handful of deciding penalty kicks in the past four games, did not make it as Adel Kolah-Kaj`s kick was superbly palmed away by Barq goalie Haj Asboubi.
SAIPA STILL LEADER
Resurgent surprise package SAIPA upset the newly-promoted Saba Battery in the fifth week Friday.
Robert Marcusi put the home side Saba ahead in the 29th minute but SAIPA defender Mehdi Hashemi-Nassab leveled the match in the 45th minute and Ali Karimi made it 2-1 five minutes into the second half.
The victory helped last season`s underdog extend its leadership on 12 points.
In other Friday`s matches, Malavan and Abu Moslem fought to a 1-1 draw in torrential rain in Bandar Anzali, Pegah and Sepahan shared the points as the game ended 1-1, and the two teams of Zob Ahan and
Esteqlal of Ahvaz gained victories over Paykan and Fajr-e Sepassi.
Malavan and Abu Moslem did not find the net before the break but Hadi Nazar-Pak opened the scoring for the northerners on 74 minutes, which was responded by visiting Sepahan`s Abdollah Shah-Hosseini one
minute from time.
Pegah scored the opener in the 16th minute when Hamid Mohammadkhani fired home but Sepahan managed to bag a point as striker Rassoul Khatibi scored the equalizer two minutes after the restart.
Sepehr Heidari helped visitor Zob Ahan beat Paykan 1-0, grabbing the winner on 87 minutes.
Esteqlal of Ahvaz thrashed the Shirazi side 3-0 with two goals by Hojjatollah Zad-Mahmoud on 14 and 15 minutes and one by Amir Khalifeh-Asl in the 69th minute.