Gabala made 1:1 against Simurg in the 25th tour of the Topaz Premier League. The home match was debut of Luis Aragon as a first team coach, who is also the skipper of the Gabala reserves.

The pace of the match started by mutual checkup attacks that made the game seem lifeless during most of the half. Gabala"s Urfan Abbasov looked to be really close to the opening just seconds before the break with a strong shot swift wide of the net.

The second period started faster and the course of the game gradually swung into the favour of Gabala by their short exchanges. It seemed just as a matter of time before the 54th minute when Rodrigues Assis broke the deadlock curving his free kick that past the Simurg keeper. After the goal, the red-black side stepped up their quick attacks. They could have doubled their lead on some occasions up to the final whistle but Assis, Oumar Kalabane and Elmar Bakhshiyev were unable to score the second with their wrong feet.

Simurg seized on a mistake by Pulhak in the 90th minute to survive the loss scoring in a draw- 1:1.

George Chikhradze: “It was an interesting game indeed. We played better in the half but were out to score. Although my team conceded a goal in the second period, we made timely substitutions that helped to level. I appreciate my all players for the good performance.

Luis Aragon: “We were too close to winning on many occasions. We really came on the field only to win. Gabala scored the goal needed. But the mistake in the line of defence changed all of the show. The opponent side struggled well up to the end. Things are going hard with the round of 12. We will try better in the further games”.