Muscat: Al Shabab and Ibri Club played out a goalless draw on Thursday in a match that held at the Rustaq Sports Complex Stadium as part of the 13th round of the Oman League. The match was a slow-paced tactical affair between both teams as Ibri Club began with a build-from-the-back approach and possession of the ball. On the other hand, Al Shabab played a defensive style and tried to exploit counter-attacks.
Ibri Club tried to reach Al Shabab's goal through several chances but were unlucky not to score. They scored a goal in the 31st minute, but it was ruled out for offside. Al Shabab failed to reach Ibri Club's goal during the first half, which ended in a goalless draw. In the second half, the two teams continued with the same style of play as the first half, with Al Shabab being slightly improved in the attacking area. Al Shabab had a chance to score in the 51st minute, but their striker Nike failed to capitalize on it. After that, the two teams exchanged control of the match without scoring any goals. In the 61st minute, Al Shabab appealed for a penalty, but the referee did not award it. The both teams continued to exchange chances, but the match ended in a goalless draw.
The draw meant, Ibri Club's points tally increased to 17, and they retained their sixth place in the overall league standings. As for Al Shabab, their points tally increased to 12, but they failed to take advantage of the home advantage and to move towards the safe zone in the league standings. They remained in tenth place, which is the last place before the relegation zone. This season's league only involves 12 teams after the withdrawal of Al Suwaiq and Al Musannah due to financial reasons.
In another late match on Thursday, Sohar beat Al Rustaq 1-0 at the Sohar Sports Complex Stadium in the 13th round of the Oman League. Daniel Etor scored the winning goal for Sohar in the 43rd minute, taking his team's points tally to 22 and snatching fourth place in the overall league standings from Al Nasr, who were frozen at 21 points after losing to Seeb 0-2 on Wednesday. Al Rustaq players failed to jump to sixth place after their points tally froze at 14 and remained in eighth place.
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