Saida: Nour Mansour’s stoppage-time time penalty earned Al Ahed a 3-2 win over Al Wehdat in Group A of the AFC Cup on Tuesday as the Lebanese side picked up their first win of the 2016 campaign.
Al Ahed never trailed in a goal-filled game that saw the club from Lebanon take the lead through Mouhamadou Drame before Brazilian striker Wagsley struck to ensure the teams went into the break level.
Ahmed Zreik restored Al Ahed’s lead only for Baha’ Faisal to equalise again for Al Wehdat before Mansour’s penalty sealed the points for Al Ahed.
“We gave our best today and had our usual performance unlike in the previous match,” said Al Ahed coach Bassem Marmar. “The win was very important especially because it was against one of the favourites to win the group and it was at home and in front of our fans.
“We controlled the midfield and took the lead but our defenders and goalkeeper made some mistakes and we conceded two goals. The win is very important because it will give us a big push before the next match.”
Drame gave Al Ahed the lead 13 minutes before the halftime break, beating Al Wehdat goalkeeper Amer Shafi on the right after Abbas Atwi’s pass. Six minutes later, though, Wagsley levelled the scores when he capitalised on Hassan Bittar’s mistake in the Al Ahed goal.
Zreik put Al Ahed ahead in the 73rd minute with a drive from the edge of the area that gave Shafi little chance, only for Al Wehdat to restore parity five minutes from time thanks to Faisal’s close-range finish.
But the three points ended up staying in Lebanon when, three minutes into stoppage time, Mansour successful converted his penalty after Feras Shilbaya had brought down Drame in the area, with Shafi’s sending off for protesting the decision adding to Al Wehdat’s misery.
“We had ups and downs throughout the match. We conceded goals and tried our best to level the scores and we did that,” said Al Wehdat coach Raed Assaf. “However, things didn’t go our way as Al Ahed scored the winner from a penalty in the dying minutes.
“I would like to thank the players for their performance and hopefully we can avoid the mistakes that we made tonight.”
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