Arabian Gulf League: Al Ahli squander 2-goal lead against Al Nasr

Dubai: Al Ahli squandered a two-goal lead to split points with cross-city rivals Al Nasr in the Arabian Gulf League late on Thursday.

Leading 2-0 before the hour, the home team surrendered a chance to move up the standings.

UAE national team striker Ahmad Khamis first cashed in on a defensive error in the 24th minute to give the home side the lead, while Oussama Assaidi added a second in the 57th minute to help the Red Knights make things look easy.

But substitute Hussain Abbas pulled one back in the 69th minute and Mahmoud Khamis converted from the spot as the contest ended 2-2.

With Al Ain nearly assured of the title following their 4-0 drubbing of Kalba earlier in the evening, the result was of very little consequence as the defending champions remained separated by a point and a place compared to Al Nasr.

After aninsipid display in the opening quarter, it was Khalil bringing things to life as he snapped onto a defensive error and slotted past Ahmad Shambieh in the Al Nasr goal. Khalil could have made it 2-0 in the 39th minute but after lovely ball through from Oussama, the UAE striker hit the crossbar.

The home side could have consolidated their position with two quick goals at the start of the second period. But first it was Everton Ribeiro missing in a one-on-one with Al Shambieh in the 52nd minute and then, two minutes later, Esmail Al Hammadi blasted over when a deft placing would have been enough.

Finally, it was former Liverpool player Assaidi who doubled the lead in the 57th minute when he chested a stray ball inside the area and blasted into the roof of the net.

However, the visitors did not give up as they continued in their search of breaking through the Al Ahli defence. It was in the 69th minute that they finally succeeded as substitute Abbas broke through to connect with a free kick taken by Mahmoud Khamis.

It was Khamis who finally restored parity for the visitors when he converted from the penalty spot after Al Ahli’s Korean player Kwon Kyung Won was deemed to have obstructed Renan Garcia by controversial referee Yaqoub Al Hammadi.

Content with an away point, and with nothing much to fight for except bragging rights, Al Nasr played out the remainder of the match.

In the second late match, Al Wahda took their tally up to 42 points with an away 2-1 win over Al Dhafra.