Al Khaleej got a massive boost in the bid to beat relegation from the Saudi Pro League this season following their 3-0 victory over Al Raed on Friday night.
Playing at home at the Prince Mohamed bin Fahd Stadium in front of a modest 3979 crowd, Al Khaleej cruised to a comfortable win and kept only their third clean sheet.
The game saw several chances go begging in the opening exchanges, but after the half hour mark, Al Khaleej found the breakthrough.
Andre Biyogo Poko scored the opener, punishing the visitor’s poor defensive set up at the back.
In the second half, the hosts remained dominant and pressed hard, also relying on the counterattack and it proved effective when a fine through ball from the left picked out Khaled Al-Samiri (60′).
Al-Samiri went for precision and technique, dropping his shoulder to curl the ball past the goalkeeper.
Soko Cikalleshi (89′) completed the routing with a precise low shot from outside the box beating the goalkeeper easy.
With the victory, the team managed by Portuguese coach, Pedro Emanuel also stretched their winning streak to three games; the best form in the league at the moment.
Meanwhile, once again, Nigerian CB Izuchukwu Anthony got another starting place and played for the entire 90 minutes.
Anthony clocked in his 7th league appearance for the club and three of those have been victories, helping lift the club out of the relegation waters.
Although the win lifted them out of the relegation zone – 1 point and one place above the drop zone – Al Khaleej face 7th placed Abha away from home in their next league fixture.
