Al-Ittihad secured a 0:1 win away to Al-Qadsiah in the Pro-League's Regular Season on Thursday evening at the Prince Saud bin Jalawi Stadium. The result left the visitors six points behind the leaders while the hosts dropped to third place after five matches.
The opening half produced the decisive moments. At the 24th minute a goal by J. Quinones was cancelled after VAR ruled him offside. Then came the flurry around the break. G. Ilenikhena found the net at the 45th minute and added a second just before the interval at 45+1. D. Lopy was booked at 40 minutes and received his second caution at 47, followed immediately by a red card.
The statistics told a different story from the scoreline. Al-Qadsiah controlled 66 percent of possession and registered 122 attacks compared with 55 for their opponents. They created five big chances and had an expected goals tally of 2.61, while Al-Ittihad managed just 0.28 xG from two shots on target. The visitors made 45 clearances and their goalkeeper made eight saves.
Al-Ittihad changed their approach after the red card, introducing Otavio, S. Bergwijn and G. Ilenikhena in quick succession around the 57th minute. The home side brought on J. Thakri at 71, M. Al Juwayr and M. Retegui at 79, and Y. En Nesyri at 87. H. Kadesh came on in stoppage time as Al-Qadsiah threw everything at finding an equaliser.
The draw brought them together early in terms of points, but the gap remains. Al-Qadsiah sit on 12 points from five games with four victories and one defeat. Al-Ittihad occupy sixth place with eight points from four matches, having won twice and drawn twice. The result ended the home side's unbeaten run in all competitions, though their recent form included a 5:0 win over Al-Taï and a 3:1 victory against Al-Shabab.