Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya squandered two valuable points in the title race, after settling for a 1-1 draw against its guest Erbil Club, in the match that brought the two teams together this evening, Thursday, at the International City Stadium as part of the 30th round of the Iraqi Stars League.

The match began with expected pressure from the hosts, but Erbil surprised everyone and snatched the lead in the 29th minute through Temirov, giving the 'Sons of Hawler' the advantage and shocking the strongly present Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya fans in the stands.

Erbil's first goal confused Rashid Jaber's calculations, and Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya tried to respond quickly, but Erbil's defensive organization and the brilliance of its goalkeeper prevented that. The first half ended with the visitors leading 1-0, amidst question marks over the leader's performance.

At the start of the second half, Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya threw all its offensive weight to equalize and succeeded in its endeavor in the 60th minute when Omar Aminu scored the equalizing goal, bringing the match back to the starting point and reigniting the stands.

The remaining minutes witnessed mutual attempts from both teams to snatch the winning goal, but the result remained unchanged until the final whistle. Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya pressed hard in the last quarter-hour, and Erbil relied on counterattacks and almost snatched the win on more than one occasion, ending the confrontation in a 1-1 draw.

With this draw, Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya raised its tally to 70 points at the top of the standings, but it missed the opportunity to widen the gap with the runner-up Al-Shorta, which has 63 points. The gap is now only 7 points.

For its part, Erbil reached 60 points in third place, maintaining its position in the top four.