Dubai: Defender Khalifa Mubarak scored the only goal of the night as Al Nasr continued their winning start to the season with a 1-0 win against city rivals Al Ahli in their opening round match of the Arabian Gulf Cup late on Friday.
Mubarak got his foot to a long-range grounder from skipper Tariq Ahmad well into first half injury time, and that one goal was enough to decide a winner on a warm and humid night in this Group B encounter.
Al Nasr have already got their season under way with the AFC Champions League at the end of last month, while this was the first encounter for the defending league champions.
The match was a story of missed opportunities from the start with visiting Al Ahli the bigger offenders against a home team content in defending and counter-attacking.
In the tenth minute, Brazilian playmaker Everton Ribeiro made his way through from the right flank, but his cross from a narrow angle went across the face of Al Nasr goal with none of his teammates in position for an easy tap-in.
The home team responded in the 25th minute when Jires Kembo displayed a fine set of skills to deftly plough his way through Al Ahli’s defence and square to skipper Tariq Ahmad, who failed to control his finish.
Just when it looked like the two teams would finish goalless at the end of the first half, Mubarak got his foot deflecting a shot from his skipper as the ball spiraled into the far corner for the only goal of the match.
The visitors set out in search of an equalizer in earnest from the start of the second half, and their Brazilian duo of Rodrigo Lima and Everton Ribeiro should have had things all squared up on a few occasions.
First, Lima blasted over with only Ahmad Shambieh at his mercy in the 50th minute, and five minutes later the Brazilian turned a Ribeiro free kick wide from close range.
A minute after the hour mark it was Ribeiro who was unlucky as his shot struck the framework and came back into play without causing any damage.
There was further misery for the Red Knights as Walid Ambar added his name to the list of missed chances when he controlled a Ribeiro ball well inside the area, but shot over instead of just tapping into an empty goal.
