TEHRAN – Persepolis and Sepahan football teams were held against their rivals and Esteghlal defeated Tractor to keep their title hopes alive with four games to go in Iran Professional League (IPL).

In Ahvaz, Foolad and Persepolis played out a goalless draw at the Foolad Arena.

Persepolis remained top of the table with 55 points, two points above Sepahan.

Sepahan and Paykan shared the spoils in a 1-1 draw in Tehran. Alireza Kushki gave the hosts the lead in the 27th minute and Ehsan Haji Safi leveled the scoreboard 10 minutes later.

Esteghlal also defeated Tractor 2-1 in Tehran’s Azadi Stadium. Esteghlal are third with 47 points.

Tractor defender Hadi Mohammadi scored an own goal in the 55th minute and Mehdi Ghaedi made it 2-0 four minutes later.

Tractor striker Amin Asadi halved the deficit in the stoppage time, four minutes after who came off the bench.

Almost-relegated Machine Sazi defeated Mes 3-0 in Tabriz and Gol Gohar beat Aluminum 2-1 in Kerman.

Struggling Nassaji earned a 1-1 draw against Sanat Naft in Abadan and Shahr Khodro edged past Naft Masjed Soleyman 1-0 in Mashhad.