Ittihad tightened its grip on top spot of the Saudi Premier League after a 1-1 draw against Al-Shabab at Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal Stadium here, Sunday. Al-Hilal, however, kept its title hopes alive also with a 1-1 tie against Al-Ittifaq in Dammam. With just three rounds left, Al-Ittihad sits on top of the standings table with 48 points. Al-Hilal is second five points behind. Al-Shabab, which is not in the title race, is third on 37 points. Al-Hilal needs to win at least one of its two remaining matches against Al-Shabab to keep its title hopes alive before facing Al-Ittihad of Jeddah in their last fixture next month. The Jeddah match was a thrilling one. Ghanaian striker Elhassan Keita put Al-Ittihad ahead four minutes into the second half before Naif Al-Qadi equalized for Al-Shabab. Al-Shabab earlier on kept the possession of the ball causing a few alarms in the Al-Ittihad camp. The first threat came in the third minute when Brazilian Marcelo Camtcho hit a free kick which missed Al-Ittihad right goalpost by inches. Al-Shabab kept up the pressure on the home team until Keita responded with a short-range shot at the Al-Shabab goal in the 13th minute. The visitors were hit hard when their striker Naji Majrashi had to leave the pitch after picking up an ankle injury. Majrashi, who might need up to eight weeks to recover, was replaced by Argentinean striker Manuel Martinez. Keita succeeded in breaking the deadlock in the 42nd minute when he collected Mohammed Noor's cross to send the ball to the far right corner of Waleed Abdullah. The Al-Ittihad lead was short-lived as Al-Shabab defender Naif Al-Qadi scored the equalizer through a header five minutes later. In Dammam, substitute Sultan Al-Saud scored in the 77th minute to secure a 1-1 draw for Al-Hilal against Al-Ittifaq. The draw moved Al-Ittifaq to the sixth spot in the standings with 29 points. Elsewhere Issa Al-Muhinai scored a 25th minute penalty to help Al-Wehdah seal a 1-0 win over Al-Ahli in Makkah. In other matches, Al-Qadissiyah beat Al-Nasr 1-0 in Riyadh and Al-Watani recorded a 2-1 win over Al-Hazm in Tabuk while Najran held Al-Taei 2-2. Aside from the importance for the top teams, the last three rounds will also decide the last two teams which will slip back to the first division. __
