Ten-man Esteqlal holds southern opposite number

MNA – Table-topper Esteqlal of Tehran held Esteqlal of southern city of Ahvaz to a 1-1 draw in the 27th week match of the sixth Iran Pro League (IPL) in the Azadi Stadium here on a rainy Friday.

Playing in front of over 80,000 fans, the two sides fought to a scoreless tie in the first half.

Second-place Esteqlal of Ahvaz scored a controversial opener after 53 minutes as Milad Maydavudi received a ball offside and left Hojjat Zadmahmud alone with an empty net to find.

The situation went from bad to worse for home side as the Blues were reduced to 10 men on 64 minutes when fullback Amir-Hossein Sadeqi received his marching orders from ref Ali Khosravi for his second bookable offense.

The pacesetter, however, salvaged one point through midfielder Hossein Kazemi whose drive took a vicious deflection off a visitor’s player in the box into the net in the 78th minute.

Esteqlal extends its leadership with 51 points and SAIPA and Esteqlal of Ahvaz stand second and third on 49 and goal difference respectively.

The Ahvaz-based Esteqlal has one match in hand.

Visitor SAIPA beat Zob Ahan 2-0 with two spot-kicks earlier in the day.