Ahli broke Al-Ittihad's unbeaten run with a 2-1 win in their Saudi Premier League match at the Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal Stadium here on Saturday. International strikers Malek Al-Hasawi and Hassan Al-Raheb contributed to Al-Ahli's win while Sultan Al-Nomari scored the consolation goal for Al-Ittihad. The win put Al-Ahli fifth in the table on 25 points while Al-Ittihad, on 40 points, failed to regain its lead after Al-Hilal edged it Friday on a better goal average. The win helped Al-Ahli secure a revenge for its 2-1 earlier loss at the hands of the Tigers. The defeat was the first for Ittihad in the league, which kicked off last September. The Jeddah rivals, Al-Ahli and Al-Ittihad, came into the match in high spirits after recording important wins in the previous round against Najran and Al-Nasr respectively. But it was Al-Ahli which created the first chance when Hassan Raheb's 13th–minute shot was denied by Ittihad's Mabrouk Zaid. In the 21st minute, Redha Tukar headed a ball into the right corner of Mansour Al-Najai, who converted it into a corner. Ten minutes later, Al-Hawsawi failed to put Al-Ahli ahead after Mabrouk Zaid saved his penalty shot. Al-Hawsawi, however, made up for the error 10 minutes later when he put a rebounding ball into the back of Zaid's net. After the break Al-Ittihad's coach brought on ace midfielder Mohammed Noor, who missed Al-Nasr match. He helped the team regain the possession. The momentum helped Sultan Al-Nomari score the equalizer for Al-Ittihad in the 54th minute. Defender Redha Tukar, however, spoiled his side efforts when he was sin-binned after collecting his second yellow card. Al-Raheb eventually helped Al-Ahli regained the lead when he headed the ball into the net of advancing Zaid to seal a morale boosting win against Al-Ittihad. In the other match of the night, Al-Ittifaq blanked Al-Wehdah 4-0 at the Prince Mohammed Bin Fahd Stadium in Dammam. Saleh Bashir, Hamad Al-Hamad, Sallhu Dain Eqal and Ghanaian Prince Tagoe were on target. __
