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Al Wahda overcome Al Nasr
A spectacular scissor-kick from substitute Saleh Menhali helped Al Wahda beat Al Nasr by a solitary goal in the UAE First Division Football League.
- By Sayed Ali, Staff Reporter
- Published: 00:41 January 23, 2008
- Action during the First Division League match between Al Wahda and Al Nasr at the Al Nahyan Stadium in Abu Dhabi.
- Image Credit: Ravindranath/Gulf News
Dubai: A spectacular scissor-kick from substitute Saleh Menhali in the 75th minute helped Al Wahda beat Al Nasr by a solitary goal and leapfrog from the bottom of the table to safe waters in the UAE First Division Football League, at the Al Nahyan Stadium in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday.
Al Wahda jumped to the 7th place with 10 points, far away from the relegation zone. It was their second successive win, following a string of poor results in recent weeks.
Al Nasr stayed in the 11th place with 6 points and were among the two clubs facing relegation.
It was the first match for Al Nasr's new coach Luka Ponacic, who began his job last week. The time was not sufficient time for him to make the players get used to his tactics.
Even then, Al Nasr showed good performance in the first half. Mohammad Ebrahim, who played up front, missed several scoring opportunities, while Brazilian Renato's free-kicks were off target.
Al Wahda attacked through Esmail Mattar and the two Brazilians, Binga and Jozel, who performed well, particularly in the second session.
Renato's powerful free-kick from outside the box hit a defender and went for a corner. Bashir Saeed of Al Wahda sent in a cross in front of the Al Nasr goal, but Mattar missed a sitter for his team.
Mohammad Ebrahim lost two good scoring chances. He first attempted to dribble, while facing the goal. The Al Wahda defence cleared the ball. On his second attempt, his weak shot went straight to the hands of Al Wahda custodian Ali Rabea.
In the second half, Mattar mounted pressure on the Al Nasr goalkeeper, Salim Abdullah, but the latter thwarted all those attempts, as well as the ones from Binga and Jozel.
Meanwhile, Al Nasr's Walid Murad, who played in the second half, continued to lose sitters in front of the Al Wahda goal, with Al Whada goalkeeper Ali Rabea pulling off some superb saves.
Menhali, who came in minutes before he scored the winner, created more pressure on the Al Nasr defence. Menhali's goal came as a result of an error by the defenders and the goalkeeper.
Menhali capitalised on those errors to score one of the most spectacular goals in the league.
Al Nasr pressed for the equaliser in the remaining time, but their efforts went off target. The Al Wahda defence and keeper Rabea were rock solid until the final whistle.
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