Record 11-time champions Dhofar claimed the Salalah derby honours in style at the Saada Sports Complex as they outplayed arch-rivals Al Nasr 3-1 in an 2020-21 Omantel League match on Wednesday.

The highly-anticipated derby had generated lot of interest as both the teams have been known to come up with their best when they face each other.

Al Nasr, which has won the league five times, was expected to provide a tough test for Rasheed Jaber’s men but at the end of 90 minutes, Dhofar demonstrated dominance and determination to win the game comfortably with Omar al Malki scoring twice and Abdullah Fawaz the third.

It was also the fifth win a row for HM’s Cup winner in the new season and  last season’s runner-up have laid down the marker with their latest win as they hunt their 12th crown. Despite the five wins, the only club to have an all-win record this season, Dhofar are now fourth in the standings. They had six points deducted at the start of the league following sanctions from the Oman Football Association.

But for the docking of those points, Dhofar would have been leading the table with 15 but have to be content with nine points while table-toppers Seeb, who won on Tuesday their fourth match, are on top with 13 points.

Also on Wednesday, former champions Al Suwaiq climbed to the second spot after a 2-0 win over promoted Nizwa at the Rustaq Sports Complex. 

In the other games played on Wednesday, Oman and Al Nahda drew goalless at the Seeb Sports Stadium and Bahla drew with Al Mussanah 2-2 to end the latter’s three-match winning streak at the Nizwa Sports

Complex. Despite sharing the spoils with Bahla, Mussanah is third with ten points after five rounds. Rustaq is at fifth place with nine points while Al Nasr is at sixth place with eight points after the defeat to Dhofar.

Standings after five rounds: 

1 Seeb (13 points), 2 Al Suwaiq (10), 3 Al Mussanah (10), 

4 Dhofar (9, -6 pen), 

5 Al Rustaq (9), 6 Al Nasr (8), 

7 Oman (7), 8 Bahla (4), 

9 Sohar (4), 10 Al Ittihad (3), 

11 Nizwa (3), 12 Muscat (2), 

13 Al Nahda (-1, -6 pen), 

14 Saham (-3, -6 pen).