Al-Jil hosted Al-Zulfi in the first round of the First Division League on Thursday evening, and the visitors secured a 2-0 victory. The match carried weight given both sides' positions, with Al-Zulfi sitting fifth and Al-Jil languishing in eighteenth place.
D. Bregu broke the deadlock in the twenty-seventh minute, and that strike settled things for the away side. To be fair, the visitors had looked sharper in the opening exchanges, and the goal confirmed what was becoming clear.
A. Abu Shaheen picked up a caution in the thirty-eighth minute, and by then the hosts were paying for a sloppy opening. They had offered little beyond possession, and the yellow card arrived after a hesitant challenge.
Four substitutions came in quick succession after half-time, with both managers reshuffling their options. A. Dumbuya and M. Al Shaya went off together in the forty-sixth minute, while Y. Daribi followed in the fifty-fourth.
A. Al Anzy doubled the lead in the sixty-third minute, and that goal ended a barren spell for the visitors. The home side had camped in the final third without real penetration, and the gap widened.
The visitors dominated possession at fifty-four per cent and registered eighty-nine attacks compared to seventy for the hosts. They managed two shots on target against one, though accuracy remained modest for both sides.
The result moves Al-Zulfi to five points from three games without a loss, while Al-Jil drop further down with just one point from three matches. The hosts have one foot in trouble already.