JS El Biar secured their opening victory of the season with a 4-0 victory over JS Saoura in Ligue 1's regular season on Thursday. The hosts, who had lost both previous matches, finally found a way back into it after a scoreless start. Saoura arrived with one win and one draw from three games, but the visitors found no answer once the complexion of the match changed.
And here's the thing about the turning point — it wasn't a goal, but a dismissal. O. Ashiraf received his second yellow card at the 53rd minute, leaving Saoura with ten men for the remainder. By then, El Biar had already taken the lead through K. Merzougui's 49th-minute strike, but the red card tipped the balance entirely.
The home side had made three changes at half-time, bringing on H. Mellouk, A. Bangoura and M. Guemroud, and the tactical shift showed immediately. D. Mouaki doubled the advantage at 78 minutes, and A. Kante added a third at 88. A fourth goal arrived in stoppage time at 90+4 minutes, though the scorer was not recorded.
Saoura responded with four substitutions after going down to ten men, bringing on O. Bentaleb, E. I. Fettouhi N., O. Yerou and C. Wayou, but the effort came too late. The visitors had already lost 1-3 to Gorée and beaten them 1-0 in their other two fixtures, so this result extends their winless run against their opponents this season.
For El Biar, the result lifts them off the bottom of the table where they sat with zero points from two defeats. They have now opened talks about what might come next — though the immediate reality is that they have not won since their last game before these two losses. The goal difference remains poor, but the three points are what matters.