(MENAFN- Muscat Daily) Nine-time champion Fanja returned to winning ways when it edged past former winner Al Arouba 1-0 in the 17th round action of the Omantel League at the Sur Sports Complex in Sur on Wednesday.
Hosts Arouba missed a golden opportunity to take lead when its Yemeni player Abdulwasea al Matari's spot-kick in the 57th minute was saved by Fanja goalkeeper Mattar al Washahi.
It turned out to be a costly miss as Fanja's Mazin al Saadi struck the match-winner in the 91st minute. Fanja climbed to sixth spot and it now trails Arouba (25) by three points.
Fanja players celebrate their win over Al Arouba in Sur on Wednesday
In the other games played on Wednesday, Muscat was held by Oman 2-2 at the SultanQaboos Sports Complex while Al Nahda recorded a comfortable 3-1 win over Al Mudhaibi at the Buraimi Sports Complex. Nahda is third with 27 points while Shabab has 35 ahead of its game against leader Suwaiq (41).
Also Mirbat defeated HM's Cup finalist Sohar 2-1 to push the Batinah club towards relegation. Elsewhere, at the Sohar Sports Complex, Al Salam played out a goalless draw with Saham.
Meanwhile, the top-two teams in the league, Al Suwaiq and Al Shabab, were to meet in a late-night kick-off while third-placed Al Nasr was to take on defending champion Dhofar in another late game. Dhofar, a record ten-time winner, is struggling in relegation zone and is placed 13th with just 16 points.
From this season, the bottom-three Omantel League teams will be directly relegated while the top-three first division teams will gain promotion.
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