Al Ahli slump to yet another defeat

Dubai: Al Ahli’s cup of woes continued as the defending champions slumped to a 2-1 away loss to Al Nasr while Al Ain recovered from a goal down to swamp cellar-placed Kalba in late night action of the Arabian Gulf League (AGL) on Friday.

Going up on a lovely strike from national striker Ahmad Khalil in the 23rd minute, the home side equalised just before half-time through a wonder long-range effort from Australian Brett Hollman before Ebrahim Toure volleyed home the match-winner in the 74th minute.

Last week Al Ahli lost at home by a solitary against lowly Emirates Club. And after ten rounds, the defending champions have been languishing mid-table with 13 points following three wins, three losses and four draws.

Away in distant Kalba, former champions Al Ain recovered from an 18th minute goal from Luis Leal to hand the home side a 4-1 thrashing with Asamoah Gyan getting a brace while Mohammad Abdul Rahman and Ebrahim Diakhy got one each.

Al Wahda continue at the top of the standings with 22 points, just one point away from second-placed Al Jazira and Al Shabab is in third with 19 points, while Al Nasr and Al Ain are in hot pursuit with 18 and 17 points respectively.

Al Nasr was the better side as they enjoyed a major share of the exchanges while creating some clear-cut opportunities on goal. It was Brett Hollman who was the stand-out player with the Australian play-maker darting in to see his stiff grounder whiz past the goal as early as in the eighth minute.

Ten minutes later, Hollman was again in the midst of the action but his rasping drive went inches away from the upright. Two minutes later Hassan Mohammad watched in dismay as his try off a Renan Garcia pass went wide.

The visitors went clear in the 23rd minute when Ahmad Khalil accepted a Luis Jimenez pass and came up with a clean strike giving Ahmad Shambieh no chance at all. And then just before the half-time whistle, Hollman came up with a wonder long-range striker when he picked up a pass from Mahmoud Khamis and sent the ball into the top corner of the net.

In the 48th minute the home side could have taken the lead but substitute Fahad Hadeed’s header off a pin-point cross from Ivan Trichkovski missed the mark by inches. Finally, Ebrahim Toure made it 2-1 in the 74th minute when he chested an Ahmad Ebrahim cross and volleyed home.

Al Ahli coach Cosmin Olaroui made a couple of changes by bringing in the half-fit Grafite, but that made very little difference as Al Nasr took all three points.

The eleventh round of matches is on December 9 and 10.