Dubai: Al Wasl coach Gabriel Calderon praised his side’s attitude after they beat Al Nasr 3-2 at home on Thursday despite surrendering a two-goal lead after going down to 10 men.
Hugo Viana and Fabio de Lima had The Cheetahs 2-0 up by the half-hour mark, but Waheed Esmail dented that momentum when he was sent off for a second bookable offence soon after.
Nilmar and Ahmad Khamis took advantage of the extra man and levelled the scores for Al Nasr with their second-half efforts, before Caio Correa grabbed a last gasp winner for Al Wasl.
It was Al Wasl’s first win over their Bur Dubai rivals in almost seven years and moves the Zabeel club up to within two points of third placed Al Nasr in the Arabian Gulf League.
“Some people thought that when they equalised we would lose,” said Calderon. “But my players showed great reaction and deserved the win.
“We made some mistakes, but the important thing today is our reaction after playing with ten men.
“The situation was difficult but my players showed great spirit and mentality.
“I promised at the start of the season that Al Wasl would beat Al Nasr under me and now I have fulfilled my promise, our fans deserve this great win and this joy.”
With this defeat, third-placed Al Nasr remain considerably short of the league’s top two sides Al Ain and Al Ahli.
“In such games it’s the team that scores last that wins, but unfortunately we couldn’t get the goal,” said Blue Wave boss Ivan Jovanovic. “We made our mistakes but on the contrary there was a lot of effort from the players to try and chase the game, but in the end we lost.”
In Thursday’s other game, Bani Yas beat Fujairah 3-2 at home in their mid-table duel.
Fujairah’s Patrick Eze quickly cancelled out Joaquin Larrivey’s early opener all within the first five minutes before Mark Milligan restored Bani Yas’ lead after the interval. Khalil Khamis then drew the visitors level again before Larrivey’s second settled the game with eight minutes remaining.
