Abu Dhabi: Al Jazira opened their account in the Arabian Gulf Cup by handing Al Ain a 3-1 drubbing late on Thursday.

Ahmad Rabeya, Jonathan Pitroipa and Khalfan Mubarak scored for the hosts, while the sole goal for Al Ain came through a penalty by Miroslav Stoch.

Both teams were depleted with several players on Gulf Cup duty, so the match served as an opportunity for their reserve players.

Al Jazira coach Eric Gerets was happy he managed to have a look at some options in central defence. He left out Juma Abdullah and Musallem Fayez to try out Esmail Al Jasmi and Saif Khalfan and he revealed he would continue to experiment in the next outing against Al Shabab on Tuesday.

“I wanted to see what would be the reaction of my central defence having left out Juma and Mussalem. The new pair responded well, but this is only one game — they need to continue to impress,” Gerets said.

“The same central defence will play in four days [against Al Shabab]. We not only had the defence, but everyone did a good job.”

Al Jazira were without keeper Ali Khaseif, Khamis Esmail and Ali Mabkhout, who are all with the UAE national team in Saudi Arabia.

Gerets added: “It was a good game. There were chances to score for both teams in the first half, but at a certain moment in the second half when they were becoming better we scored.

“So we are happy with this win, but more than that we are especially satisfied with the way we played.”

Al Ain were was missing 10 players — eight to national duty and two, ace striker Asamoah Gyan and Jires Kembo Ekoko, due to injuries. Coach Zlatko Dalic said he was unimpressed by his side.

“We didn’t do anything special in this game. After conceding a goal, our game went down. We didn’t keep possession and we didn’t keep a good formation. I can understand the mistakes from my players as they haven’t had a chance to play for a long time. Yet I expect all my players to perform when they are provided with the ­opportunity,” said an upset Dalic.

Elsewhere, Al Dhafra handed defending champions Al Ahli a shock 2-1 defeat at Rashid Stadium. Al Dhafra had also earlier held the Dubai side to a 2-2 draw in the Arabian Gulf League.

They rode goals from Abdullah Abdul Qader and Makhete Diop, while Luis Jimenez pulled one back for Al Ahli after half-time.

Thursday’s Group B fixture saw hosts Fujairah and Sharjah settle for a goalless draw as both earned their first point.