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MNA – Pacesetter SAIPA came from one-goal deficit to hammer second-placed
Esteqlal in an action-filled derby here Sunday.
Playing the eagerly awaited game in the 14th week of the sixth Iran Pro
League before over 40,000 partisan fans in the Azadi Stadium, the two sides
fought for the midseason title.
Esteqlal live-wire striker Siavash Akbarpur made his presence felt three
minutes after the kickoff, dangerously sending a loose ball in a melee past
far post.
The automakers responded in the 19th minute when a player-cum-manager Ali
Daei through ball was kicked by Ebrahim Sadeqi and parried out by Esteqlal
keeper Vahid Taleblu.
Ali Alizadeh found the SAIPA net with a header seven minutes later, but the
blues stopped celebrating as the striker flagged offside.
Midfielder Hossein Kazemi sent the crowd wild with applause after his
40-yard nonpoisonous drive shaved error-prone goalie Rahman Ahmadi’s hands,
putting Esteqlal ahead on 30 minutes.
SAIPA squandered the best chance before the interval as Dariush Yazdani’s
35th minute spot-kick was palmed away by Taleblu, who brought down Omid
Sharifi-Nassab.
League leader upped the tempo in second half, seeing a goal-bound header on
hour mark be blocked by midfielder Mehdi Amirabadi on goalline.
Defending champion Esteqlal, which was trying to secure the shaky lead, was
forced to play with 10 men in the last 28 minutes. Akbarpur was sent off by
referee Mohsen Qahremani for using foul language, Daei told reporters after
the match.
SAIPA scored the equalizer with a spectacular diving header from Seyyed
Jalal Hosseini in the 67th minute.
Mohsen Khalili, who had hit the ball against Taleblu’s chest on 79 minutes,
stunned the stopper with a left sizzling shot from behind the box one minute
later.
The third came in a swift stoppage-time counterattack led by Sharifi-Nassab,
whose superb pass left Khalili alone with Taleblu to beat and see his
goal-bound drive find the unguarded net by substitute Hamidreza Rajabi.
SAIPA was also reduced to 10 men in the dying seconds when Mohsen Arzani
received his marching orders for hitting Taleblu in the chest.
The morale-boosting win helped SAIPA celebrate the midseason championship
with 33 points and one match in hand and Esteqlal remains second on 27.
In other matches, home sides Paykan and Sepahan beat promoted Mes and
bottom-placed Fulad 4-2 and 2-1 respectively.
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