Daei rues dropped points

AFC - Saipa coach Ali Daei insisted his side should have come away with all three points as they were held to a 1-1 draw by Al Kuwait in their AFC Champions League Group B game on Wednesday.

Al Kuwait took the lead despite being on the back foot for much of the opening 45 minutes thanks to an opportunistic strike by Khaled Ajab late in the half but Milad Zanopour dragged his side level shortly after the hour mark.

Al Kuwait were reduced to 10 men in the 80th minute when Al Taher was dismissed but they held firm for a share of the spoils.

"I'm satisfied with the performance of the players but I'm not happy with the result," said Daei. "Especially because we nearly won the game and we deserved to win even though it was our first continental experience.

"Playing at home doesn't mean that you should win the game and this is what happened as we were close to wining the match and hopefully we will win the games that we will play at home."

Meanwhile Al Kuwait coach Rodion Gacanin felt his side were not at their best and bemoaned the quality of the pitch.

He sad: "We had a lot of problems as the match ball was new and our players were not familiar with it.

"The pitch was not also good and it affected the performance of our players.

"After taking the lead in the first half, we were surprised with the goal that we conceded as it came at a time when we were looking to add another goal to seal the win.

"Our team had a below-par performance but we were affected with the substitution of our striker Ziad Jaziri who was injured during the match."