In the Saudi Arabian League at the crack of dawn on Wednesday (17th), Crown's skillful performance, using only his mouth to "cleverly get" a 12-yard penalty kick, helped Ainas beat Irtay 2-0 away from home, cutting the gap on top of the table Etihad to three points and rekindling the title race.
Despite Cron's recent poor form, collecting only one goal in his last five matches, however, the 37-year-old Portuguese star's tenacious will led to the referee's failure to award a penalty in the 48th minute of the match, when Ainas midfielder Aysulikian fell to the ground after a collision with an opposition player inside the penalty area, which aroused the great dissatisfaction of Cron, who lodged a protest with the referee and was consequently issued with a yellow card. However, with the VAR referee prompting the referee to watch the replay footage, the referee eventually converted the penalty kick and Crown was able to get his wish, firing the ball into the net.
At the end of the match, Talisker capitalized on the opponent's mistake and scored the 2nd goal for Ainas, which won 2 and drew 1 in the last 3 rounds of the league. As the table-topping Etihad drew 2-2 with Hilal on the road, the gap between Ainas and the second place is back to 3 points again. With 3 rounds of matches left in this season's Saudi League, Ainas still has a chance to make a comeback.
