Zubair Wahid and Sufyan Shaikh both scored two goals as Ikhlaas (Green) defeated Ridha (Blue) 4-1 to even the season series to 1-1 in the Mecca division. Ikhlaas is rolling right now with a 4-1-1 record in their last six games. The young Ridha team was competing for first spot in the league three games ago, however, are now winless in their last three, and sit eighth in the league.

The game began with Ridha having a very short bench and none of their GMs at the game. While Ikhlaas was ready to go as they knew the importance of a good start. Ikhlaas had not secured a playoff spot yet and was looking to do so Friday night.

Ridha held off Ikhlaas’ attack for the first four minutes of the game with a dump and no chase game. But at the 10:41 mark, Ikhlaas’ Wahid put one past Ali Khawaja, and less than 30 seconds later, Shaikh batted a rebound out of the air to go up 2-0.

The cavalry for Ridha arrived midway through the first period and the game intensified immediately. The speed and skill of Ridha was held in check with Ikhlaas’ relentless man-to-man pressure.

Near the end of the second period, Ridha’s turned it up and hemmed Ikhlaas for a long shift, which led to a faceoff in Ikhlaas’ zone. Ikhlaas were considering taking a timeout to spell off the momentum but decided against it. Right off the face-off, Ridha cut the deficit in half as Saqib Khokar picked up a loose ball in the face-off circle and ripped it passed Imran Alvi at 3:46 of the second period.

As Ridha pulled their goalie for an extra attacker, it would be detrimental, as Shaikh would pick-off the ball from Huzaifa Panchbhaya and feather it into the empty net from half. Wahid would add his second shortly after to finish off the game at 4-1.