Daei delight at Saipa showing

AFC - Coach Ali Daei hailed Saipa's resilience after the Iranian side overcame a numerical disadvantage for a large part of their AFC Champions League Group B meeting with Iraq's Al Quwa Al Jawiya to record a 1-0 win on Wednesday.

Amir Vaziri headed home in the second minute of first-half stoppage time to hand Saipa the lead.

And despite having defender Mageed Gholamnejhad sent off after appearing to kick Ali Mansour, Daei's side were rarely troubled as Saipa maintained their unbeaten start to the campaign with their second victory, which opened up a three-point cushion over Al Quwa Al Jawiya with three games remaining.

"I would like to thank our players as they played well especially in the second half," said Daei

“Despite playing with a man down, they put in a lot of effort to make up for the loss of our player and it was great performance.

"The game was hard for us because we lost a man in the second half and we had to play with defensive tactics but our players showed good stamina and we continued with the same level of performance throughout the game.

"Al Quwa Al Jawiya played well despite the bad situation they have had to endure.

“Hopefully we can continue our good performances in the upcoming matches."

After suffering their first defeat of the competition, Al Quwa Al Jawiya coach Hamid Salman was left to rue his side's inability to take advantage of their numerical advantage for a third of the game.

A free-kick from Rafid Mohammed with 25 minutes remaining was all the five-time Iraq League champions had to show for their efforts, but Al Quwa Al Jawiya will get a chance to avenge the defeat in the return fixture in two weeks.

"Firstly I would like to congratulate Saipa on their win," he said.

"We were affected by the lack of preparation and the security situation, while the long journey to Kuwait took its toll on the players.

"We controlled everything in the second half and Saipa didn't have a good game especially after they were reduced to 10 men.

“We played with three strikers but we couldn't create any clear chances on goal. Saipa's performance dropped and they remained in their area while their counter-attacks were not dangerous."