'Unbelievable... miracles exist!' - Al Okhdood hail incredible survival success | OneFootball

Saviour Godwin summed up exactly what everyone was thinking.

“Incredible, I must say. Because this is unbelievable,” offered the Al Okhdood striker, head shaking in disbelief.

Relief, also. His side had secured another seaon in the Roshn Saudi League in the most dramatic of circumstances, sealing survival with the last kick of the entire 2024-25 top-flight campaign. Of the whole league.

For a change, it wasn’t Godwin who had guaranteed the result. This time, it fell to Mohammed Al Jahif, the local lad somehow keeping his cool from the penalty spot in the 105th minute.

That’s right: the 105th minute. Seemingly impervious to the pressure, Al Jahif stroked home the ball to snatch the most unlikely of victories at Al Khaleej.

Not long before, that appeared implausible at best. Needing a win to have any chance of staying up – relegation rivals Al Wehda were facing Al Ettifaq at the same time on Monday – Al Okhdood were 2-0 down on the hour in Dammam.

Relatively close by, and soon after, Al Wehda had levelled at Al Ettifaq. In all likelihood, Al Okhdood were set to join Al Raed and Al Orobah in dropping from the top tier of Saudi football.

Then, madness. Over at EGO Stadium, Al Ettifaq had gone 2-1 up, Vitinho grabbing the winner in the sixth minute of injury-time.

Perhaps with word coming through at Prince Mohammed Bin Fahd Stadium, suddenly Al Okhdood seemed inspired. Another Najran-born player, Saleh Al Abbas, equalised in the 95th minute.

A full 10 minutes later, and with Al Wehda’s players now huddled around phones and tablets watching the action unfold a few kilometres away, Bandar Nasser handballed in the Al Khaleej penalty area and Al Jahif settled the greatest of great escapes.

Al Okhdood were saved, Al Wehda dispatched to the First Division League.

“These are the things in life you see, and you say, ‘Wow, God is great’,” Godwin stated afterwards. “First of all, I want to give a big shoutout to, from the president down to the technical staff, to the players.

“It has been an incredible season. It has been up and down for us, and for us to stay in the league is, for me, miracle exists. I will say this because we deserve this.

“We've been through a lot throughout the season and the boys came out here just to give their all and fight today. And, at the end of the day, we are crowned with an important victory like this.”

Important indeed. Al Okhdood concluded the campaign 15th, one spot and one point above relegation. Fifteen, in fact, could be their new lucky number, given Al Jahif’s later-than-late intervention.

“Yeah, its football,” Godwin smiled. “You don't give up so easily. We went in [1-0 down at half-time] and we were a little bit down because we wanted to see if we can score first, but it didn't happen.

“And we just continued to fight and [it’s] who fights the most. We deserve to win, so we gave it all, even when it was [2-0 to Al Khaleej, we didn’t give up.

“We continued to fight until the third goal came in. It was a very, very important victory for us.”