Al Nasr edge past 10-man Al Dhafra
abu dhabi — Al Nasr beat 10-man Al Dhafra 2-1 in an intense sixth round match of the Arabian Gulf League at Hamdan bin Zayed Stadium on Friday. The win took Al Nasr to fifth place (10 points) and Al Dhafra stand at eighth (six points).
Right from the start, things didn’t go according to plans for the home side. After just 15 minutes, Al Dhafra striker Ailton Almeida had to be replaced with Ali Al Hammadi. Al Dhafra also missed converting early attempts on goal through Mohannad Karrar and Ali.
Things got worse for Al Dhafra as Ali was sent-off for diving inside the box. The midfielder had been booked once and the second yellow card in 27 minutes relegated him to stands for rest of the match.
And Al Nasr quickly made the man advantage count by going up through Rashed Eisa. A short corner saw Eisa get faintest of edge onto a goal-bound pass from Mahmoud Khamis, the ball took enough deviation to find a way past keeper Zaid Al Hammadi.
Despite being a goal and man down, Al Dhafra continued search for an equaliser and came close on few occasions. At the other end, Al Nasr had a golden chance go begging to shut the door on Al Dhafra. Al Nasr striker Marcelo Cirino with his solo run had just the keeper to beat but the Brazilian failed to convert. After the break, temperature soared as the game got physical. Following a challenge, a bleeding Hasan Al Hammadi needed medical attention and continued with a bandaged head.
And Al Dhafra striker Adil Hermach couldn’t find target when inside the box. Al Dhafra failed to score but Al Nasr did. Marcelo was on target for Al Nasr with a splendid shot from the right flank to make it 2-0. Immediately Al Dhafra responded as substitute Saeed Al Kathiri was fouled inside the box by keeper Ahmed Shambih and were awarded a penalty kick. Karrar converted from the spot to pull one back.
With two goals in space of two minutes, the match saw an exciting finish. Chances were created at either end but the ‘Blues’ survived the test to pocket three points.
ashwani@khaleejtimes.com