Asut Petroleum and Petrojet played out a 1-1 draw in the Premier League's opening round of the regular season on Friday. Both sides entered the fixture winless after three games, with the hosts sitting 16th on two points and the visitors 17th on one. The result kept both teams in the bottom two, though the gap between them remained negligible.
Petrojet came out with more intent, controlling 59 per cent of possession and registering 208 attacks against the hosts' 140. They created 17 corners and relied heavily on the flanks, attempting 45 crosses. Asut Petroleum sat deeper, managing 36 clearances and making 17 successful tackles to blunt the visitors' pressure. to be fair, the hosts' defensive shape held firm for the first 74 minutes.
The deadlock was broken in the 74th minute when H. Khaled found the net for Petrojet. The visitors had been the more threatening side, with an expected goals tally of 1.33 compared to 0.48 for the hosts. Asut Petroleum responded with a late equaliser, as A. Bahbah scored in the 90+4th minute to rescue a point for his side. and here's the thing, it was a dramatic finish that came after neither team had created a clear-cut chance all game.
Petrojet dominated the shots, landing 17 attempts with eight on target, while Asut Petroleum managed just five shots, three of which were on target. The visitors' high line was picked apart late on, though their overall efficiency was not far removed from the hosts. Both teams kept a clean sheet for most of the contest before the final whistle.
Three substitutions were made for Asut Petroleum at the interval, bringing on M. Eid, F. M. Kouablan and M. Ibrahim. Petrojet made a single change at 58 minutes through A. Bah, then introduced M. Kenawi and K. El Deeb in the 66th minute. H. Khaled was substituted in the 81st minute after his goal, alongside Z. El Sayed.
The match saw three yellow cards in total. I. Ashraf and A. Bahbah were booked in the second half, with A. El Khamisi adding a caution for the hosts in the 87th minute. The referee showed no inclination to issue anything more serious, and both sides finished with ten men on the pitch.
by then, both teams had accumulated three points apiece for the season, though Petrojet's solitary draw left them one point adrift of their opponents. The draw brought them together early in the table, but neither side looked particularly comfortable in their respective positions. The result does little to separate them, and the race for points will continue in earnest.