Esteghlal draws after two losses&nbsp; <img border="0" src="http://www.persianleague.com/images/pic.gif" width="13" height="11">

PLDC - In the fourth week of the Iranian Professional League, Esteghlal Tehran faced Abu Moslem in Mashhad in a very intense and exciting game on the second day of Ramadan on Friday, 8/11/2002 and Esteghlal managed to equalize against their opponents with the score of 2-2. This draw prevented the same incident which happened to the club six years ago, when the
club lost three games in a row.

The match was refereed by the very capable Khodadad Afsharian. A header by Javad Zarincheh (Esteghlal captain) scored an own goal for Abu Moslem in the 10th minute of the match and gave the host the lead early in the game. Abu Moslem then began to strongly defend its goal mouth and did not allow any infiltration.

Abu Moslem kept the guests busy during the whole match with their repeated counters. In the 44rd minute of the match, a foul on an Esteghlal striker by Abu Moslem goalkeeper (Ahmad Khormali) in the goal mouth area was judged to be a penalty and Khormali receives a yellow card. Hasheminasab then scores the penalty to draw the game in the 46th minute. The first half ended on as 1-1 draw after three minutes of injury time.

In the 48th minute (second half) Vahedi Nikbakht received a yellow card for his objection to the referee and Abu Moslem posed a threat for Esteghlal. Hasheminasab of Esteghlal then scored the second goal for his team in the 52nd minute to put his team ahead. Reza Enayati of Abu Moslem next scored with a header (on a rebound header from Esteghlal defender) in the 27th minute of the second half to make things even. Enayati together with Abu Moslem kept us their attacks from the 75th minute of the match and Esteghlal too kept trying to use their opportunities.

The match finally ended without any further goals and with much pressure from Abu Moslem on their guests and a number of close calls by both clubs. This now places Esteghlal in 8th place in the league table with 4 points and Abu Moslem have held on to their position as fifth with 6 points.

Other results :

Sepahan 2 Malavan 0
Sanat Naft 2 Foolad 2