League Play-Off

Nottingham Park
Spectators: 36 (Terracing: 28, Seating: 8, VIP seats: 0) Stoke Poges AFC's Younis Al Azmi started the match with a crisp pass. The crowd had been anticipating this game for weeks and the excitement in the stadium was easily visible. In the 5th minute Mahdi Al Sallal shot on, it seemed, an open goal, but Hakem Ashkanani saw the ball coming and threw himself on it before it passed the goal line. The referee was alert and spotted a serious foul by Younis Al Azmi during the 6th minute. The player immediately received a yellow card. In the 6th minute, Younis Al Azmi hit a crossing free kick to the open man running down the field. After 11 minutes, Farhan Al Enzi mouthed his way into the referee's book. The tension between the Nottingham AFC and the Stoke Poges AFC players grew even worse after the yellow card. After a rather tough play, Nottingham AFC's Farhan Al Enzi got a free kick in the 11th minute. Yahya Al Barrak, 12 minutes into the match, dribbled the ball up the side of the field and decided to take a long shot at the goal. Unfortunately, the ball was poorly hit and landed closer to the corner than to the goal. Hakem Ashkanani showed his good apprehension of the play when he made a fantastic save on a shot from Mahdi Al Sallal, who was totally free with the ball in the 19th minute. Mahdi Al Sallal sent away a hard shot on goal in the 20th minute, but the ball went just over the crossbar and out. A very good chance. After some fancy dribbling in the 23rd minute, Adham Ghadhanfer managed to get in a good position for a shot. Nottingham AFC's supporters rose to their feet, but Adham Ghadhanfer was a bit off balance and shot the ball just wide of the left post. Haitham Al Holey breathed a sigh of relief and went to take the goal kick. Hakem Al Amer could have scored with his fast shot on goal in the 33rd minute of the match, but Haitham Al Holey made a huge save. Hakem Ashkanani showed his good apprehension of the play when he made a fantastic save on a shot from Younis Al Azmi, who was totally free with the ball in the 40th minute. Haitham Al Holey acted impressively in front of the goal and made a superb save when he, in the 42nd minute, took the ball on the long shot from Farhan Al Enzi. In the 43rd minute, Aadil Al Sharaf hit a crossing free kick to the open man running down the field. After some careless play in the Stoke Poges AFC defense, Hakem Al Amer kicked a shot that curved into the net to the right of Haitham Al Holey. The Stoke Poges AFC fans voiced their displeasure as they felt that Haitham Al Holey should have stopped the shot. After 47 played minutes Nottingham AFC got a freekick which was hit by Belal Shalan. After 51 minutes Nottingham AFC's defender was forced to head the ball over the line for a corner. It was Yahya Al Barrak who took care of the corner kick. The corner ended in Yahya Al Barrak almost managing to get the ball behind the net, but Nottingham AFC's Hakem Ashkanani did a great save. Af the end of the first half the score was 1-0. The first half had gone as expected for the home team.

The players of the away team seemed most concentrated when Adham Ghadhanfer stepped up to make the kick off in the second half. If Mahdi Al Sallal had kept his shot down it would have been a goal in the 60th minute. The ball went over the crossbar instead. Dawood Al Najdi's late challenge caught a Nottingham AFC's player on the shin and left him crawling around in pain. The referee blew his whistle and produced the yellow card. Dawood Al Najdi helped the player get up and apologised. Adham Ghadhanfer fired away a screaming shot towards the goal in the 75th minute, but the shot went just over the crossbar without Haitham Al Holey having to interfere. In the 76th match minute, Stoke Poges AFC was awarded a freekick, the ball was picked up by Aadil Al Sharaf to maneuver through the defense. After having played for 78 minutes, Younis Al Azmi managed to get in a good position for a shot on goal. Stoke Poges AFC's supporters crossed their fingers, but Younis Al Azmi was, after a quick turn that froze the defenders, out of balance and shot the ball just to the right of the goal. An unexpectedly hard shot by Adham Ghadhanfer in the 81st minute of play forced Stoke Poges AFC's goalkeeper Haitham Al Holey to throw himself to the left, to be able to save the ball. Hakem Ashkanani made an important save on a dangerous shot by Mahdi Al Sallal in the 82nd minute. Abdul Rahman Al Bahar hit a great freekick 84 minutes into the match. Younis Al Azmi received a nice pass in the box and took a hard shot in the 85th minute. Hakem Ashkanani tensed up and prepared to dive, but the shot went over the goal with him having to interfere. Belal Shalan's late challenge caught a Stoke Poges AFC's player on the shin and left him crawling around in pain. The referee blew his whistle and produced the yellow card. Belal Shalan helped the player get up and apologised. Yahya Al Barrak, 92 minutes into the match, dribbled the ball up the side of the field and decided to take a long shot at the goal. Unfortunately, the ball was poorly hit and landed closer to the corner than to the goal. An unexpectedly hard shot by Adham Ghadhanfer in the 96th minute of play forced Stoke Poges AFC's goalkeeper Haitham Al Holey to throw himself to the left, to be able to save the ball.