Round-up of the Joy League matchday: Al-Ittihad go clear at the top and Ammar Al-Ghamdi steals the spotlight
سرم
The fifth round of the Joway Elite Under-21 League is over, and it delivered on several fronts: Al-Ittihad pulling clear at the top, a flurry of goal-laden matches, and a handful of players stamping their authority on proceedings.
Al-Ittihad strengthened their grip on the summit by returning from Al-Majma'ah with an important 3-1 win over Al-Faisaly. That takes them to 13 points, two clear of Al-Ahli, while Al-Fateh cashed in on the draw between Al-Ahli and Al-Qadsiah to climb to second on 12.
Al-Ittihad go clear at the top: Al-Fateh close in
Four wins and a single draw. That is the return that keeps Al-Ittihad unbeaten after five rounds and alone at the top with 13 points.
The Doyen's 3-1 victory over Al-Faisaly underlined the strength of their start, sealing another away contest and keeping them top.
Al-Fateh, meanwhile, punished the stumble of Al-Ahli and Al-Qadsiah in their 2-2 draw. A single goal saw off Al-Orobah, lifting Al-Fateh to 12 points and second place, one ahead of Al-Ahli on 11.
Al-Ahli dropped two points by settling for that 2-2 draw against Al-Qadsiah. The result knocked them off the top and handed their rivals the chance to close in.
Al-Taawoun and Al-Riyadh: 7 goals in a single match
Seven goals lit up the clash between Al-Taawoun and Al-Riyadh, the most goal-laden of the fifth round, ending in a 4-3 win for Al-Riyadh.
Both teams swung between attack and defence throughout. Al-Riyadh took the three points despite conceding three, coming away with a valuable win in one of the most exciting matches of the round.
Elsewhere, Al-Kholood beat Al-Ittifaq 3-1 and Neom beat Al-Khaleej by a goal without reply, while Al-Nassr overcame Damac by a clean goal and Al-Watan saw off Al-Akhdoud by the same scoreline. Al-Fateh sealed their clash against Al-Orobah by a goal without reply.
The round also produced a goalless draw between Al-Ansar and Al-Wehda and a 3-3 between Al-Hilal and Al-Jabalain, while Al-Feiha delivered the biggest win by sweeping aside Al-Najma with a clean quartet. Al-Ahli drew 2-2 with Al-Qadsiah.
8 clean sheets: Al-Feiha with the most prominent mark
Eight teams kept clean sheets during the fifth round. Al-Feiha, Al-Fateh, Al-Watan, Al-Nassr, Neom, Al-Wehda and Al-Ansar all avoided conceding, along with another team according to the round's results.
Al-Feiha stood out among them at the other end too, hammering four past Al-Najma to finish with a comprehensive 4-0 victory.
By contrast, Al-Fateh, Al-Nassr, Neom and Al-Watan needed only a single goal to seal their matches, while the clash between Al-Wehda and Al-Ansar ended goalless. Defensive solidity was firmly on show in a number of the clashes.
Al-Hilal against Al-Jabalain broke that mould entirely. The net rippled six times in a clash that ended 3-3, each team taking a single point.
Al-Ghamdi steals the spotlight: three braces
Ammar Al-Ghamdi was the name of the fifth round. He led Al-Ittihad to their 3-1 win over Al-Faisaly by scoring all three goals, the only player to bag a hat-trick during the round.
That treble took Al-Ghamdi to 6 goals in the tournament and second place in the scorers' list, a single goal behind Al-Ittifaq star Mohammed Al-Issa.
He was not alone in shining up front. The round also produced three braces, from Al-Taawoun's Abdulmajeed Al-Sharif, Al-Feiha's Daniel Al-Habib and Al-Jabalain's Kabiro Saliso.
So ends a fifth round packed with numbers and eye-catching moments. The headline, though, is Al-Ittihad's lead growing ever clearer, alongside the hat-trick that crowned Ammar Al-Ghamdi the star of the round and set the scorers' race alight this early in the season.
