Last-gasp Khalili strike stuns SAIPA

MNA – Striker Mohsen Khalili left a bitter taste on the palates of his last-season teammates in holder club of SAIPA with a stoppage-time winner, giving pacesetter Persepolis a spirit-raising 1-0 victory here Friday.

The forward, who should have opened the scoring in a man-to-man challenge with SAIPA keeper Misaq Me’marzadeh one minute after the kickoff of the 14th week match of 7th Iran Pro League, extracted three points for the red-clad Persepolis four minutes deep into the injury time, sending the ball in with a left drive after a melee in the box.

Over 70,000 partisan fans in the Azadi Stadium stands and millions gluing to their TV sets at home rued a scoring chance striker Alireza Nikbakht-Vahedi missed from close range in the 19th minute.

Khalili was once again denied by in-form shot-stopper Me’marzadeh, who palmed away his curling goal-bound free-kick seconds before the interval.

SAIPA striker Adriano Alvez chilled the crowd with a dangerous header and a kick in the 51st and 53rd minutes.

Referee Mas’ud Moradi was the target of Persepolis faithful and players as he did not award a spot-kick when midfielder Abbas Aqaii lost his balance in a battle with his marker Jalal Hossein in the penalty area.

Persepolis upped the tempo, and the last 10 minutes was virtually one-way traffic.

The narrow victory brought the points of table-topper Persepolis to 32 and SAIPA sticks to the 15 place in the 18-strong table on meager 13 points.

Translation: Ramin Aidi