Pas holds Persepolis

Persepolis missed some scoring chances after the interval. Substitute Mehrdad Owladi, who is just thinking of crowd-pleasing solo efforts, spoiled two opportunities in the 69th and 71st minutes and national midfielder Pejman Nuri had enough time and space to grab the winner, but his left drive made no trouble for Rubarian nine minutes from time.

The draw left Persepolis in the fourth place of the 16-strong table with 12 points.

In another game played earlier in the day, SAIPA took the top spot provisionally with a 2-1 home over Abu Moslem.

The national automaker’s side has 15 points out of seven matches while holder Esteqlal of Tehran, which struggled to a 1-1 draw against Rah Ahan, has one match in hand and will leapfrog SAIPA if it beats Fulad in a rescheduled game next Sunday.

Fulad was thrashed by Zob Ahan 3-0 last week.

Mes also defeated the visiting Malavan 1-0, Barq hammered host Paykan 3-1, Fajr-e Sepassi and Saba Battery split the points with a 1-1 tie, and the Ahvaz-based Esteqlal stunned visitor Sepahan 2-1.