Nasr handed Al-Hilal its first defeat of the season when it beat the Zain Saudi Professional League leader 2-1 at the King Fahd International Stadium Thursday. Newcomers Abdullah Al-Qarni and Mohammed Al-Sahlawi scored for Nasr, while Mohammed Al-Shalhoub scored the consolation goal for Hilal. Nasr started the match with attacks on its rival's goal. Its skipper Husain Abdul-Ghani hit a cross from a foul kick outside the Hilal area and Al-Qarni punched it into Al-Daeyea's goal in the eighth minute. Hilal put on a very poor performance in the first half, forcing coach Gerets to replace defensive midfielder Abdul-Latif Al-Ghannam with Ahmed Al-Furaidi. The replacement proved handy for Nasr, whose players started dominating play in the midfield. Mohammed Al-Sahlawi could have added a second for Nasr in the 44th minute when his header hit the bar. Hilal came back for the second half knowing what a defeat would mean. They pressed Nasr a couple of times but its goalkeeper Abdullah Al-Enezi kept Hilal at bay. Striker Mohammed Al-Sahlawi doubled Nasr lead in the 70th minute through a header. Hilal coach made a couple of more changes but even the substitutes failed to change the tide of the game. It was only when Nasr defender Abdu Barnawi brought Muhiyyan down in the box that Al-Shalhoub scored from the spot in the last seconds of the match. Barnawi earned a second yellow for the foul and was red-carded. The win puts Nasr into the fifth spot on 18 points, one behind Al-Ahli. Despite the loss Hilal remains on top with 38 points. The win has, however, given other teams a chance to catch the leader. Al-Ittihad with 23 points is third, while Al
