Zob Ahan Clinch Top Spot, Esteghlal defeat Pas

Esteghlal Tehran kicked-off their battle against eighth-placed Pas Hamedan with a goal in minute 30 by Alizadeh. Pas Hamedan was quick enough to equalize at the interval in a goal by Mohamad Gholami.  In the second half Esteghlal bounced back by dominating the game and pressing Pas as Mojataba Jabbari’s brace in minute 71 and 73 almost finished the job for visiting Blues. Arash Borhani added to Pas’ pain with his goal in extra time, while Pas’ Hanif Omranzadeh put one back in dying minute of extra time. With this result, Esteghlal temporarily clinched 4th spot, while Pas Hamedan remained at 8th spot.

In other games, Zob Ahan jumped to first spot with a 2-0 win at the expense of Moghavemat Sepasi Shiraz thanks to Castro and Khalatbari’s goals in minutes 46 and 81 respectively. At the end of this match, Moghavemat’s coach, Gholamhossein Peyrovani, submitted his resignation to the club officials citing Moghavemat fans’ discontent and insults to him during the match.

In Mashhad, Payam beat the city rival, Abumoslem, 1-0 through a penalty-kick by Arfi.

In Tehran, Rah Ahan and Saba Battery shared point with a 1-1 draw, while Ahmad Taghavi and Gholamreza Rezaei were on target for Rah Ahan and Saba Battery.

So far in IPL standing, Zob Ahan leads the table with 24 points, followed closely by Peykan with one game in hand. Bargh Shiraz and Esteghlal are also placed 3rd and 4th with 19 and 18 points respectively.