Yasir Mohamed scored late as Al Hilal Omdurman beat El Merrikh by a solitary goal in CAF Champions League, Group A match on Friday at Al Hilal Stadium in Omdurman.
The first real chance of the match fell on Nigerian international Ibrahim Mustapha who was fed with a clever pass by his countryman Abdul Ajagun in the tenth but hesitated to shoot and Merrikh custodian Mohamed Mustapha easily picked the ball.
Mustapha did well again to deny Mutakwil Hassan from close range in the 16th minute. Hassan exchanged neat passes with Ajagun few minutes later but the latter shot wide.
El Merrikh’s Ammar Taifour was a constant menace to Al Hilal left back Faris Abdallah and his 38th minute shot was parried away by the alert Mohammed Said.
Al Hilal continued to dominate as the half went on with Mustapha slipping in with no ease, but they were unable to find a second goal while at the other end, Saeed only had the one save to worry about in the first half.
El Merrikh came out as the livelier of the two sides in the second half and went close to pulling level on the hour mark when Ramadhan Gaab saw his header saved by Saeed.
The Blue Waves continued piling more pressure in search of the opening goal but El Merrikh remained resolute in defense.
El Merreikh was reduced to ten men in the 52nd minute after Emad Ali was red for a dangerous tackle on Al Hilal player.
The Blue Wave responded with their own attacks a couple of minutes later, forcing El Merreikh goalkeeper Mustafa to make two good saves in quick succession.
The visitors did manage to carve out a chance just on the 70th minute for Augustine Outu, but El Merrikh shot-stopper Saeed was on hand to make the save.
Second half substitute Yasir Mohamed found the back of the net in the 84th minute pouching on a loose ball in the box.
However, Al Hilal were able to see off the late push from El Merreikh in the closing stages and secured victory which takes them to third position in Group A.
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