Al Wasl's Walter Silvani jumping high to
head the ball in front of the Al Nasr goal. @Gulf News
Gulf News - Al
Nasr lost the top place in the First division football league after they
were held to a 1-1 draw by Al Wasl at the latter's ground in Zaabil with a
huge crowd attending.
Al Nasr dropped to second place in the standings with 15 points and Al
Wasl become ninth with five points. Al Wasl are still looking for their
first win in the league.
The match was marred by rough play by the Al Wasl defenders to stop the
swift moves by Al Nasr strikers.
An ambulance had to be called on to the field to take Al Nasr midfielder,
Qazim Ali, to hospital after a rough tackle by Wasl defender, Abdullah
Issa, in the 37th minute.
The referee showed Issa the yellow card but the Al Nasr supporters
protested vociferously, demanding a red card for Issa.
Al Jazira top the standings with 16 points after they returned to Abu
Dhabi with three valuable points, following a 3-2 win against Dubai club
at the Al Aweer stadium in Dubai.
The first session ended 1-1 with Hamad Mohammed scoring for Jazira in the
eighth minute and Kabouka levelling for Dubai at the stroke of half time.
Al Jazira, led by George Weah, stormed back in the second half and James
Deba netted the second in the 67th minute. Kabouka lost two scoring
chances for Dubai which could have give them the lead.
George Weah added the third from the spot in the 73rd minute. After three
minutes, Cristian Montecinos reduced the deficit by scoring Dubai's second
goal. Al Jazira defended well in the last minutes to keep their narrow
lead until the final whistle.
In the Al Wasl v Al Nasr match, the referee flashed his yellow card early
in the fifth minute to Wasl midfielder Jasim Bilal for a rough tackle on
Nasr striker Semba. After a minute Al Nasr scored off a well taken corner
kick by Hisham Zarwali. Walid Murad's quick header beat Salah Hussain
under the Al Wasl bar.
Al Wasl attacked with Tariq Hasan, whose powerful shot was saved by
Mubarak Yaqout the Al Nasr custodian.
After three minutes, Farhad Majiedi advanced from an offside position, but
Yaqout blocked his attempt. Bakhit Obaid launched a right footer which
Yaqout also tipped over for a corner.
Al Nasr went for the offensive, with Ali Abbas losing a golden chance to
score the second. In front of an open goal, he shot wide.
Al Wasl defender, Isamil Rashid, was quick to tackle the ball while Semba
was on his way to score. Again, Yaqout saved Bakhit's powerful shot in the
last minute of injury time.
Walid Murad lost a good chance to score the second goal for Al Nasr when
he couldn't benefit from an error by the Wasl keeper in the 60th minute.
Abdullah Issa saved the ball before it could cross the goalline, in front
of an empty goal.
Al Wasl pressed hard in the last 20 minutes, with Khalid Darwish, Farhad
and Issa Ali all squandering good scoring attempts. Al Nasr retreated to
defend their narrow lead without any real threat to the Wasl keeper in the
last 15 minutes.
Farhad scored the equaliser for Al Wasl nine minutes before the end,
latching on to an accurate cross by Khalid Darwish. His header beat Yaqout
on his left.
Al Nasr launched some attacks in the last five minutes but lacked the
sharpness and good finishing in front of the Al Wasl goal. |
