Naft fights back to batter Blues

MNA – Bottom-placed San’at Naft came from one goal down to tame the blue-shirted Esteqlal 3-1 in the 17th week of the 7th Iran Pro League here Friday.

Backed by over 30,000 partisan fans in the Azadi Stadium, home side Esteqlal took the lead as striker Farhad Majidi beat Naft keeper Hassan Huri with a powerful right drive from close range.

Against the run of play, the visiting side should have secured the parity in the 27th minute through forward Saeid Hallafi, who made a neat one-two with Brazilian signing Leonardo Pimenta but failed to find the net, firing wide above the woodwork.

Ten minutes later, promoted Naft turned the table when Majidi dribbled past Huri in a swift counterattack, duped his marker near the near post to celebrate his double, but his curling shot was ricocheted off defender and the post and the hoodoo turned to a luck for the yellow-clad visitor as it scored the equalizer through Pimenta, who capitalized on Vahid Taleblu’s goalkeeping blunder to send the ball into an unguarded net.

The situation went from bad to worse for Esteqlal nine minutes into the second half following a defending mistake by Mehdi Amirabadi in the goalmouth, allowing the budding star Hallafi to put the visitor ahead with a diving header.

Coach Mojtaba Taqavi had Hallafi to thank when the striker stole the ball from Esteqlal skipper Alireza Mansurian on 64 minutes, scoring his second and Naft’s third with a left shot just from the edge of box that took a vicious deflection off fullback Piruz Qorbani.

Esteqlal received another blow in the 78th minute, when it was reduced to 10 men. Striker Mohsen Yussefi slapped in the face of his marker, leaving the ref Ahmad Salehi with no option but to show the red card.

The Blues, however, played a smoother football in the last minutes, with Mansurian cupping his face with hands after his inswinging free-kick on 81 minutes dangerously passed the near post.

Sub Omid Ravankhah minimized the gap four minutes from normal time, clearing three Naft players in the penalty area before beating Huri with a low left drive.

Naft also had a scoring chance in the stoppage time, but sub Mohsen Zahedi saw his kick fly high over the crossbar.

Popular Esteqlal conceded its sixth loss in midseason, sticking to the seventh place in the 18-strong table on meager 23 points.