Abu Dhabi: Zlatko Dalic, the Al Ain coach, vowed his side would address costly individual mistakes which led to his side surprisingly losing 2-1 at home to Al Shabab in the Arabian Gulf League on Thursday evening.
A miserable evening for the Boss was compounded after their January signing, Colombian winger Danilo Asprilla, was stretchered off in the second half with a muscle injury.
Dalic, whose men were set to be deposed as AGL leaders on Friday if second-place Al Ahli beat Al Wahda, said X-rays would be undertaken to determine the extent of Asprilla’s ailment.
Of the defeat, the Croat added: “We lost the three points regrettably due to individual errors. We’ll straighten out our mistakes and work as hard as we can on the training ground.”
Al Shabab had got off to the worst possible start at the Hazza Bin Zayed Stadium when defender Mohammad Marzouq put the ball in his own net in quite spectacular style in just the second minute, flicking a looped back-heel into the top corner over goalkeeper Salem Abdullah’s head. He had been attempting to clear Asprilla’s flick from Mohammad Fawzi’s wayward cross.
In the 34th minute, Al Shabab finally conjured up their first chance to equalise, but Carlos Villanueva’s effort from a tight angle was well saved by Khalid Eisa, while at the other end Asprilla had a sharp shot blocked, but Al Ain were unable to extend their lead before the break.
In the second half, Al Ain midfielder Fellipe Bastos saw a header saved by the alert Abdullah, and in the 73rd minute, Asprilla was stretchered off to be replaced by Ebrahim Diaky. Less than a minute after the change, Al Ain came agonisingly close to a second goal after a rapid counter-attack.
Lee Myung Joo did all the hard work, racing free of Al Shabab’s defence and rounding goalkeeper Abdullah, only to strike his effort off target when faced with an empty net.
After making a change to bring off teenager Mohammad Juma and replacing him with Nasser Masoud in the 76th minute, Al Shabab were instantly rewarded with an equaliser.
Eissa’s goal-kick was collected on the left wing by Henrique Luvannor, who fed half-time substitute Juninho Potiguar to set up Masoud to score within seconds of entering the fray.
Juninho himself almost found the net into the final five minutes of a frenetic encounter, but the Brazilian curled his strike against the far post.
But it was the third and final Al Shabab substitute Dawood Ali — on for Jasem Salem Johar — who sealed victory in the third minute of injury time after skipping into the box and squeezing a precise finish under the body of Eissa.
Earlier on Thursday, Al Jazira overcame Abu Dhabi rivals Bani Yas 3-2 in a pulsating clash, in which they came from 2-1 down in a game where both sides had a man dismissed.
“This is one of the better teams in the league,” Al Jazira coach Henk ten Cate said. “It was a fantastic game, with both teams fighting until the last minute.”
