The seventh round of matches in the Tunisia Ligue 1 Professionnelle took place on Wednesday and Thursday with five matches contested including top sides Espérance and Étoile du Sahel in action. Étoile extended their lead at the top of Group A over their rivals by defeating CA Bizertin 2-1 on Thursday and once again it was young attackers Zinedine Boutmene and Mohamed Dhaoui who provided the goals. Boutmene converted a penalty kick in the 35th minute and Dhaoui scored a dramatic late winner in second half stoppage time.
Étoile are ahead of Espérance by three points in Group A with one more match played after EST failed to make a breakthrough in their 0-0 draw at ES Hamam-Sousse. The Blood and Gold have struggled at times with their attack this season and Wednesday’s match continued the trend as the visitors failed to threaten the ESHS goal. The hosts came closest to scoring in the first half when Wael Barhoumi created space for a shot at the edge of the EST penalty area and sent his low effort just wide.
In Group B there is much more parity with an opening for US Monastir to become the leader once USM returns from CAF Confederation Cup duty. ES Métlaoui and AS Soliman recorded 1-0 victories to leave Soliman level with Wednesday’s opponents US Ben Guerdane on nine points at the top. USM are on seven points but have played only three matches compared to six for Soliman and five for USBG, making the Monastiriennes favorites to win the group along with Club Africain who have not played a league match yet this season due to also taking part in Confederation Cup duty.
The scores from Wednesday and Thursday are below along with highlights from the games involving Espérance and Étoile du Sahel.
Scores
US Tataouine 1-1 Stade Tunisien
AS Soliman 1-0 US Ben Guerdane
ES Hamam-Sousse 0-0 Espérance ST
ES Métlaoui 1-0 EO Sidi Bouzid
CA Bizertin 1-2 Étoile du Sahel
Highlights
CA Bizertin 1-2 Étoile du Sahel
ES Hamam-Sousse 0-0 Espérance ST