Mamic delighted with winning start as Al Ain boss

Abu Dhabi: Al Ain’s new Croatian coach Zoran Mamic expressed his delight with the way his side performed in their 3-0 win against Al Nasr in the Arabian Gulf League at Hazza Bin Zayed Stadium on Friday night.

At half time Al Ain led 1-0 but dominated the second period — much to the satisfaction of the new manager.

“It was a difficult start for us, Nasr had some chances. But after that, we took control of the game for the next 70 minutes,” said Mamic, who took over the reigns from compatriot Zlatko Dalic last week.

Brazilian winger Caio opened the scoring in the 22nd minute before Ismail Ahmad doubled the lead in the 58th and Omar Abdul Rahman completed the tally for the winners through a penalty in the 78th.

“We presented, I think, good football. After this game, of course you know better than me, that there is a lot of potential and quality within this team,” said Mamic, whose team now have 37 points and retain second place. Al Ain are still seven points behind leaders Al Jazira.

Al Ain had missed the service of few of their key players with injury, including Colombian winger Danillo Asprilla and Bandar Al Ahbabi, and Mamic feels the side will have more depth once they return.

“I hope so very soon, we will enjoy seeing some injured players back into the team. Then, we will have more quality. It will enhance the strength of the team and gives us an excellent choice in the list in the next stage,” added Mamic.

Al Nasr with this loss slipped to eighth spot behind Al Dafrah with 22 points. Understandably Al Nasr coach Dan Petresuc was dejected with his team’s showing and attributed the loss to missed chances.

“Of course we are not happy with the result. We played very well in the first half, maybe the best 45 minutes of my time as coach here. But when you have chances against Al Ain, you must score,” said Petrescu adding, “It was 1-0 to Al Ain, but should have been at least 3-1 to us. The second half was the worst of my time here as a coach.”