Plucky Zob Holds Blues

Action from the match - Rasol Zamani and Sohrab Bakhtiarizadeh

TEHRAN - Visitor Zob Ahan showed guts as it fought against the table-topper blue-clad Esteqlal to a 2-2 draw yesterday.

In a 17th week second-leg match of Iran Pro League on a bumpy Azadi field, the Isfahan-based Zob took the lead twice but blues responded to extract one point.

Midfielder Aref Mohammadvand headed home in the 24th minute a Ebrahim TaqiPour 40-yard diagonal cross from almost inches into the box.

Momenzadeh and Petrosian

All blues' blitz on Zob woodwork were defended except diving striker Ahmad Momenzadeh's header in the 52nd minute that kissed the net, leveling the derby.

Six minutes later, goalie Parviz Boroumand was judged to have brought down Zob striker Amir Vaziri in the penalty area and visitor's skipper Samsun Petrossian slotted home the spot kick.

Zob was reduced to 10 men after Vaziri was sent off for two bookable offenses in the 69th minute.

Mahmoud Fekri, who captained Esteqlal was also handed his marching orders nine minutes later for hitting Taqipour's face with his elbow.

Esteqlal restored parity just one minute from the time. Jalal Omidian presented a late penalty to blue by tripping Alireza Akbarpour.

Team line-up's:

Esteghlal: Parviz Boroumand, Sohrab Bakhtiarzadeh, Pirooz Ghorbani (Faraz Fatemi ), Mehdi Hashemi Nassab, Mohammad Navazi, Davood Seyed Abassi (Farzad Majidi ), Yadollah Akbari, Mahmood Fekri, Sirous Dinmohamadi, Ahmad Momenzadeh, Ali Reza Akbarpour

Zob-ahan: Rasol Zamani, Ebrahim Taghipour, Mostafa Salehinejad , Samson Petrosian, Mojtaba Hosseini, Reza Azizi (Sepehr Heydari), Saeed Dehghan (Hamid Azizzadeh), Aref Mohammadvand, Siamak Mohammad Beigi (Jalal Omidian), Amir Vaziri , Saeed Ramezani.

Cards given:

Esteghlal: Sohrab Bakhtiarzadeh, Mohammad Navazi, Parviz Boroumand, Mahmood Fekri (2-ejected).

Zoba-han: Amir Vaziri (2-ejected)

Bahram Atef and Mansour Porheidari after match

Right winger Mohammad Navazi converted the penalty.

In other clashes, visitor Traktor-Sazi of Tabriz snatched its first victory by overcoming Sepahan of Isfahan one-nil and the host side, Farshbaf Scored for Traktor-Sazi in the 30th minute.

Malavan from Anzali defeated Fajr-Sepasi

Anzali-based Malavan, also defeated Fajr-e Sepassi of Shiraz 1-0, Pejman Nori Scored for Malavan in the 25th minute.

Winning 34 points from 17 games, Esteqlal of Tehran leads the table followed by its archrival Pirouzi with 32 points out of 16 games and the third-placed Zob Ahan, collecting 28 points from 17 matches.

Visitor Pirouzi meets Abu Moslem of Khorasan in Mashhad at 04:00 p.m. today.
Peykan meets Foolad in Tehran at 02:00 p.m. today.
Pas meets Esteghlal-Rasht in Tehran at 04:00 p.m. today.
Bargh-Shiraz meets Saipa in Hafezieh Shiraz at 04:00 p.m. today.