The players of "Ahal" beat the capital's "Kopetdag" 3-1 in a rescheduled match of the 27th round of the Turkmenistan top league championship.
The game took place in Babarap gengeshlik of Gokdepe etrap, Ahal velayat.
Matches between "Ahal" and "Kopetdag" this season have been high-scoring. In the first round, "Kopetdag" won 3-2, but in the second and third rounds, "Ahal" convincingly avenged this by winning 4-0 and 4-1.
The fourth match initially did not promise to be high-scoring. The first half ended with no success for either side at 0-0. However, after halftime, the situation changed dramatically on the field. In the 55th minute, thanks to Suleyman Mirzoev's efforts, "Kopetdag" took the lead 1-0. However, the guests celebrated this for only a short time. A minute later, Dayanch Meredov equalized to make it 1-1. Three minutes later, Turkmenistan's Ministry of Internal Affairs team was left with ten players after Gochmyrat Kakageldiev received two yellow cards.
Taking advantage of their numerical superiority, "Ahal" firmly took the initiative and soon scored two more goals against "Kopetdag." These were credited to Yagylych Gurbanov (68th minute) and Elman Tagayev (86th minute).
With this comeback victory, the team from the Main Department of "Turkmennebitonumleri" scored 55 points and moved to second place in the national championship. "Altyn Asyr," in third place, trails by three points but has played two fewer matches.
"Ahal" and "Kopetdag" will play their next matches in the Turkmenistan Football Championship on October 30. On this day, as part of the 28th round, "Ahal" will play away against "Merv," while "Kopetdag" will face "Ashgabat" in a city derby.