Dubai: David O'Leary said he understood the frustration of Al Ahli fans after his side failed to beat bottom of the league Ittihad Kalba at Rashid Stadium in a dire 2-2 draw in match day 14 of the Etisalat Pro League on Thursday night.
Home fans were heard voicing their discontent well after the full-time whistle, despite Al Ahli bagging an equaliser with the last kick of the game via Esmail Al Hammadi on 94 minutes.
Al Ahli had opened their account just before half-time on 47 minutes against the run of play through a Karim Al Ahmadi header but the livelier visitors came out fighting in the second half with goals on 58 minutes by Mohammad Malalla and an Elias Olivera header on 88 minutes.
Last efforts
With a chorus of bile already in full song, even Al Ahli's last gasp effort to spare the blushes of the home side hadn't appeased their supporters.
"Al Ahli fans are entitled to be angry if you don't win against Kalba.
"They came here to see a win and they are frustrated — I can understand that. I'm angry as well."
This latest poor result comes just weeks after board meetings to discuss the future of the coach. Chairman Abdullah Al Naboudah emerged from talks to grant O'Leary until the end of the season until a final decision is made.
"Fans will make their own judgment, we have our own plan. But they want to come here and see a victory and they are angry because they haven't — that goes on throughout the game."
O'Leary added: "I thought the game was about keeping clean sheets and scoring goals. But we gave silly goals away and we missed too many chances, but we showed great character to score at the end — I'm delighted with the way we continued to create chances at 2-1 down."
Asked if the last few weeks had been a bad run, O'Leary said: "I wouldn't say it's been a bad couple of weeks, we went and won the Gulf Cup game. This is a bad result [against Kalba] but I don't know why you'd say this has been a bad couple of weeks."
Reminded of the board meeting and the decision to grant O'Leary until the end of the season he added: "I didn't hear that, but thanks for telling me."
