Borhani Hat-Trick Helps Pas Win League Title on Walkover

Pas, which needed a win – whatever the result -- to lift the trophy put the icing on the cake with a 5-0 romp in Shahid Dastgerdi stadium in western Tehran.

Pas fast-paced forward Borhani cleared his two markers to fire home in the eighth minute.

Sticking to the heels of Pas, the blue-clad Esteqlal of Tehran, which was looking forward to hearing good news from Dastgerdi stadium fell behind on nine minutes in the 100,000-seater Azadi stadium as Ali Ashurizad took the lead for the visitor Pegah with a header from close range.

Not to be outdone, the capital’s blues secured the parity in the 15^th minute when striker Gholamreza Enayati’s curling free-kick found the top right hand side of the northerners’ net.

Esteqlal’s spirits sank as the news of the second goal by Pas was echoed in Azadi stadium.

Borhani, the toast of Pas, doubled his own and side’s scoring in the 22^nd minute when he hotfooted it to dribble past the visitor’s keeper Khaled Shahitavi with a header and steer the ball into an empty net.

The situation was aggravated for the blues when Amir Salamibakhsh, who had missed a scoring chance minutes earlier fired home a loose ball in the 29^th minute to put Pegah ahead again.

Esteqlal of Tehran came close to equalizer in the last minute of the first half but striker Faraz Fatemi missed the chance in a man-to-man challenge with Pegah goalie.

After the restart, Pas kept on attacking and celebrated the third on 52 minutes by Maysam Maniei.

The attack-minded Pas added another four minutes later as substitute striker Mohsen Bayatinia escaped an offside trap to smash home.

Esteqlal, which knew well the trophy is out of access fought back to restore some part of its prestige.

The match in Azadi stadium leveled when Esteqlal skipper Alireza Mansurian dived to head home a Davud Seyyed Abbasi cross in the 58^th minute.

Pas striker Bayatinia was denied by keeper Shahitavi twice in the 68^th and 77^th minutes but it was the day of Borhani, who grabbed his hat-trick five minutes from normal time.

Referee Jalal Moradi was the target of Pegah players in Azadi in the fourth minute of additional time when he awarded Esteqlal a controversial penalty.

The advancing Pegah keeper tripped Esteqlal right winger Mohammad Navazi on the line of the box but Moradi showed the penalty spot.

Navazi converted with his trademark penalty kick to hand Esteqlal a late 3-2 victory over the northerners.

Pas celebrated the third IPL title on 53 points out of 26 games and Esteqlal of Tehran finished runner-up, winning 51 points.

In other matches on Monday, Fulad saw off Persepolis 1-0 as Ali Mussavi scored the sole goal of the match in the 65^th minute and bottom-placed Shamushak of northern city Noshahr beat the visitor Paykan 1-0.

Fulad remained third in the table on 47 points and Persepolis ranked fourth on 39 points.

KK/IS

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MNA