President’s Cup: Toure fires Al Nasr into semi-finals

Dubai: Ebrahima Toure fired the only goal of the match one minute before full-time to take Al Nasr into the semi-finals of the President’s Cup at the Al Maktoum Stadium late on Saturday.

The 29-year-old striker from Senegal, who is on his way out from the club at the end of this season, accepted a lay-off from Pablo Hernandez and blasted into the near corner of Al Ain goalkeeper Khalid Eisa’s net to send the home crowd wild.

Until then it was Al Ain all the way as they lived up to their reputation after being crowned Arabian Gulf League champions earlier this month.

However, this was a match that the home side should have wrapped up comfortably, had they converted the chances that came their way.

And the biggest culprit was Toure, who missed two clear opportunities within two minutes.

In the seventh minute, he had two attempts on goal courageously blocked by Eisa and then from the very next move the goalkeeper yet again deprived Al Nasr the lead after Toure failed to convert a one-on-one.

Thereafter, Al Ain gradually worked their way into the match and should have gone clear in the 17th minute but Ahmad Shambieh was alert to thwart an effort from South Korean Lee Myung Joo.

Al Ain continued their search for a goal in the second half, but did not create any serious chances.

In fact, it was the home team showing a lot of enterprise, Australian Brett Holman who came closest to scoring in the 54th minute when his low shot went just wide.

Holman fired again on the hour and once again the Al Ain goalkeeper brought off a desperate save. Two minutes later, the Abdul Rahman brothers worked off a fine combination, but Omar’s dainty chip went wide with Shambieh beaten.

Ghanaian skipper Asamoah Gyan was introduced in the 68th minute, but that move hardly mattered in the end as Toure stayed unmarked to fire home the winner.

Al Nasr will now meet Al Shabab after the club from Al Mamzar beat Bani Yas 5-4 on penalties after a 1-1 draw after extra time.

Salem Esmail saved the fourth spot kick off Emad Khalili to see Al Shabab line-up a re-match against city rivals Al Nasr in the May 30 semi-finals.

In the third quarter-final, newly-promoted Dubai Club fought back from 2-0 down to equalise and then lead 3-2 against star-studded Al Ahli.

But Habib Fardan scored in the first period of extra time and Everton Ribeiro converted from the spot to help the Red Knights earn a last four place against the winner of the last quarter-final, to be played between Ajman and Al Dhafra on Sunday.