Esteghlal beat Zob Ahan of Isfahan 1-0 at the Azadi Stadium and advanced to IPL third place.
Siavash Akbarpour scored Esteghlal’s solitary goal from the penalty spot in the 40th minute.
Zob Ahan as title contender showed a poor performance and Esteghlal could have won the match with two or three goals ahead if their strikers had taken advantage of the opportunities they got.
“I am satisfied with the way my players played. However, we could have won with more goals,” Esteghlal coach Samad Marfavi said.
Elsewhere, IPL leader Sepahan defeated Rah Ahan 2-0 and is now eight points clear at the top with three weeks remaining.
Sepahan has 62 points while Zob Ahan and Esteghlal are in second and third places respectively with 54 and 52 points.