Persian Gulf Pro League:
Gvelesiani nets last-gasp winner as Persepolis edges out Chadormalou
Persian Gulf Pro League champion Persepolis needed a 95th-minute strike from Georgian center-back Giorgi Gvelesiani to beat newly-promoted Chadormalou 1-0 at home on Saturday.
There was little to separate the two sides in a game of few chances at Tehran’s Takhti Stadium, before Juan Carlos Garrido’s men managed to pull off a late surge to secure a fourth successive win in the new campaign. The Reds’ luck seemed to be running out when substitute Lucas João and Milad Mohammadi hit the woodwork in stoppage time, but Gvelesiani, who bagged the title-winning strike against Mes Rafsanjan on the final day of the previous campaign, was alert to tap in on the rebound after Ayoub El Amloud’s effort was cleared off the line by the visiting defender.
Elsewhere, summer-signing Mahdi Limouchi got off the mark in the Sepahan shirt late in the first half as Jose Morais’s side walked away with a 1-0 away win against Esteghlal Khuzestan.
Kaveh Rezaei missed the opportunity to double Sepahan’s lead deep into stoppage time as he was denied from the spot by former Persepolis keeper Ahmad Gohari, though the scoreline was still enough to secure a first win in three league games for the Isfahan-based club.
In Tehran’s Shahr-e Qods Stadium, first-half goals by Brazilian defender Raphael Silva and Mehrdad Mohammadi saw Esteghlal beat Havadar 2-1 in a first game under interim coach Sohrab Bakhtiarizadeh, who replaced Javad Nekounam last week.
Mahdi Goodarzi pulled one back for Havadar from the spot in the fifth minute of added time but it proved too little too late for Mahdi Rahmati’s side, which is yet to win a game this season, sitting rock bottom in the table with three points.
Saturday’s results came a day after Iralco thrashed Zob Ahan 4-0 in Isfahan, with Behrouz Norouzifard, Amin Kazemian, Taleb Rikani, and Aref Haji Eidi on the scoresheet for the visitors.
Kheybar and Golgohar played to a goalless stalemate in Khorramabad, while Ali Azadmanesh’s second-half penalty helped Shams Azar beat Mes Rafsanjan 1-0 – a first win of the campaign for Saeid Daqiqi’s men.
In Qaemshahr, Malavan’s Omid Nourafkan scored with 20 minutes left on the clock to cancel out Hamed Pakdel’s first-half opener for Nassaji as it finished 1-1 at the Shahid Vatani Stadium.