'We know it's bad, but we have to believe' - Al Wehda win finally to boost RSL hopes | OneFootball

For Al Wehda, more than any team in the Roshn Saudi League at present, it had been a long time coming.

The Mecca side were riding the most unwelcome of waves, with nine games without a win. Searching for solutions, the club had slipped to the bottom of the RSL standings, staring ever more at relegation from the Saudi Arabian top flight.

Then, on Thursday night, they broke through. Al Wehda saw off fellow strugglers Al Raed at King Abdulaziz Sports City Stadium, rebounding from a goal down to prevail 3-1. It was a first win in 10 league matches, halting a run that stretched all the way back to early January.

Al Raed had opened the scoring, through the reliable Karim El Berkaoui on 16 minutes, but Saad Bguir soon restored parity for the hosts, before RSL veteran Odion Ighalo converted a Youssef Aymn pass 14 minutes from time.

In the final minute, Alexandru Cretu made safe the result. The victory, at long last, may not have pulled Al Wehda from the foot of the table, but it moved them level on points with second-from-bottom Al Okhdood. They are now two points from escaping the drop zone.

Suddenly, heading into the final 10 rounds of matches, Al Wehda have something to cling to.

“We are proud,” Cretu said. “We fight. We have spirit tonight and we have fight. We know it’s a bad situation for us, but we can solve this. And we want to stay in the league.

“But to stay in the league we need games like this, to fight from the first minute until the last minute. And we need to believe.”

It wasn’t only Al Wehda breathing a collective sigh of relief. Cretu's thrashed finish from an acute angle snapped a personal drought: it represented his first goal in RSL since his move last summer from Romania’s CS Universitatea Craiova.

After 22 appearances, the midfielder was finally off the mark.

“First goal in the league... I don’t know what to say about me, but I can do better,” Cretu added. “I need more time to adapt because, for me, it’s not easy. But I think I can score many goals.”