The start of the second round of the Saudi Zain professional League witnessed Thursday scoring 18 goals in three matches. Host teams won over their guests with considerable amount of goals, the worst of which was when the league newcomer Al-Ta'awon succeeded to defeat its guest Al-Shabab 4-1 at King Abdullah Sport City Stadium in Buraidah. Shabab was ranked fourth in the last season's competition. Al-Ta'awon has obtained six points so far. At Prince Faisal Bin Fahd Stadium, Al-Nasr defeated its guest Al-Fateh 4-2 while Al-Ittifaq thrashed Al-Ahli 4-3. Nasr has collected six points so far while Fateh remains pointless. Elsewhere, although Ahli took the lead in the first half over its host Al-Ittifaq at Prince Mohammed Bin Fahd Stadium in Dammam, Ittifaq hit back to win 4-3 to collect its first three points in the season. Marcinho of Al-Ahli scored for Ahli in the 14th minute before Emad Al-Hosani could double the score four minutes later. In the 30th minute, Argentinean midfielder Sebastian Tegali of Ittifaq reduced the margin before Hosani could score a third goal for the guest team. After the break, Saleh Basheer scored a second goal for Ittifaq in the 52nd minute before midfielder Yahiya Al-Shihri could level the score 14 minutes later. However, Tegali succeeded to score the winner in the 71st minute. Both teams have got three points each so far. Ta'awon made the second surprise when the team won over Shabab 4-1. The first one was when Al-Ra'id defeated Shabab 2-0 in the first round. Striker Mohammed Rashid of Ta'awon early scored the only goal of the first half against Shabab. The loser equalized two minutes after the break through striker Nasser Al-Shamrani. However, Badr Al-Khamees of Ta'awon doubled the score from the spot before Al-Rashid was back to seal the win over one of the Saudi representative to the Asian Champions League, which remains pointless in the domestic competition.
