IPL: Esteghlal Overtakes Tractor Sazi at Second Place
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Esteghlal football team leapfrogged Tractor Sazi to second place of the Iran Professional League (IPL) on Saturday.
In the penultimate week of the IPL season, Esteghlal beat Padideh 2-1 in Mashhad’s Samen Stadium.
Omid Noorafkan and Jaber Ansari scored for the visiting team and Moein Abbasian was on target for Padideh.
In Isfahan’s Naghshe Jahan Stadium, Tractor Sazi lost to Sepahan 2-0 in a crucial match and moved down to third place.
Mehrdad Mohammadi and Farid Behzadi Karimi (p) scored for Sepahan.
Persepolis, who had won the title with three games to spare, drew 3-3 with Zob Ahan in Tehran’s Azadi Stadium.
Mohammadreza Hosseini put the visitors ahead just seven minutes into the match. Jerry Bengtson made it 2-0 six minutes later.
Soroush Rafiei pulled a goal back in the 39th minute.
Bengtson scored Zob Ahan’s third goal in the 51st minute but Mehdi Taremi found the back of the net two minutes later.
With 10 minutes remaining, Persepolis striker Ali Alipour was brought down in the penalty area and Taremi equalized the match from the spot.
Machine Sazi, who was relegated from the IPL, was defeated against Siahjamegan 1-0, Foolad edged past Sanat Naft 1-0, Esteghlal Khuzestan drew 0-0 with Gostaresh Foolad and Paykan defeated Saipa 2-0.
