Omantel League’s relegation fight hots up among the bottom clubs

With eight more rounds in the Omantel League, the fight to stay afloat in the league saw intense competition among the bottom rung teams. Mirbat and Al Oruba, who are the top two teams from the bottom, slugged it out in the middle. And so did Oman Club (19 points), Muscat (20), Al Suwaiq (21) and Al Rustaq (22), who are close to third from bottom. Al Oruba and Saham played out a 1-1 draw and had to share a point apiece. Al Oruba’s draw came in the dying minutes which spoiled the victory for Saham. Al Oruba players got the right confidence after they secured their presence in the semifinals of the coveted cup. Saham with this draw reached 30 points and are at the third position while Al Oruba remained in their position at 13th place with 11 points. Seeb under the Portuguese coach Migel Bareara are moving ahead to get closer to clinch the league crown for the first time. The league leaders registered their 12th win in the league as they defeated Bahla 2-0 at Ibri Sports Complex and reached 41 points. The hosts, Bahla, failed to break Seeb’s domination at the top of the league as they suffered an absence of three main players in the match. Bahla possess 26 points at the fourth place. Oman Club snatched a crucial victory as they beat Al Rustaq 1-0 at the Seeb Stadium. Abdullah al Mashaikhi scored the all important goals in the match. The home team’s victory came since the last win which occurred in the eighth week of the league when Oman Club had won Al Oruba 1-0. Despite the three points which was added to Oman’s team credit, they have to secure more points to keep away from the dropping zone as they now have 19 points and are in the 12th position. Al Rustaq, under former Oman U-23 team coach Hamed al Azani, failed to pocket the winning points and remain at the safe position at the middle of the table. The runner-up Dhofar are back to the winning circuit after the draw with Bahla in the previous round. The Salalah giant outplayed Al Suwaiq 3-0. Dhofar team is aware that missing any further points and increasing the gap with the league leaders Seeb could lose the league crown specially they, who are the title owner. Dhofar now possess 38 points while Al Suwaiq came closer to the relegation area with 21 points at tenth place. Mirbat and Muscat missed the necessary points of the match as they ended the match in a 2-2 draw. The result did not benefit both the teams as they remained in the danger zone with high probability to relegate to the first division league specially if they keep on missing the points. In the other fixtures, the fifth placed, Al Nahda, suffered a 3-1 loss against Sohar while Fanja secured an important victory against Al Nasr 3-1.