Abu Dhabi: Hosts Al Jazira opened their accounts in the Arabian Gulf Cup by handing Al Ain a 3-1 drubbing at the Mohammed bin Zayed Stadium on Thursday.

Ahmed Rabeya, Johnathan Pitroipa and Khalfan Mubarak scored a goal each for the winners while the sole goal for Al Ain came through a penalty conversion by Miroslav Stoch.

Al Ain and Al Jazira, both, had lost their opening fixtures by a goal each to Ittihad Kalba and Al Nasr respectively and were itching to make their mark in the Cup.

However, both teams were depleted with several players on Gulf Cup assignment.
Al Ain, in all, was missing 10 players – eight of them due to national duty and the remaining two, ace striker Asamoah Gyan and Jires Kembo Ekoko, out due to injuries.

Al Jazira also didn’t have the services of their custodian Ali Khaseif, Khamis Ismail and Ali Ahmed Mabkhout – all serving UAE.

The visitors started on a positive note with their Korean recruit Lee Myung Joo finding the upright with an on the run shot from the right corner of the box.

Al Jazira, however, showed more purpose towards the end of the first half.  In the 43rd minute, Rabeya displayed tremendous ball skills before unleashing a left-footed effort which sailed over the crossbar. Immediately after that, he had another open goal in front to tap home after being fed by Pitroipa.

However, Rabeya’s touch once let him down as it had too much elevation to go over the horizontal.

The breakthrough for the home side came after the change of ends through a free-kick. Yaser Matar’s grounder from metres away from the half line was not well collected by Al Ain custodian Mohamad Saeed and Rabeya made sure not to miss out on the rebound.

Al Ain drew level in the 68th minutes after Saif Khalifa brought down Diaky Ibrahim and referee Ahmad Salem pointed it out to the spot, surprisingly he didn’t even flash a yellow card for that offence.

Stoch, who stepped in to take the spot kick, was clinical in his finish. Ten minutes later, Stoch came up with a breathtaking free-kick but an alert Al Jazira keeper came up with a swift block.

Then on the resultant counter, Al Jazira’s Rabeya showed his magic with the ball and after taking a 360 degree turn, with a spin over the ball, he mesmerised a defender and found Pitroipa, who just had to place it home.

Even before Al Ain could recover from that blow, they were trailing by another one. This time, substitute Khalfan Mubarak, left unmark, ran through the middle unchallenged and latched on to a long ball from Hassen Ameen to beat a rooted Saeed.

Another penalty was awarded in favour of Al Ain in the dying minutes but Stoch failed to make it count as his shot found Al Jazira’s custodian Khalid Alsenaani in its way.