AFC CUP MD2 - GROUP A: AL HIDD 1-1 ALTYN ASYR

Manama: Ali Haram scored 12 minutes from time to earn Bahrain’s Al Hidd a share of the points against Altyn Asyr from Turkmenistan in Group A of the 2016 AFC Cup on Tuesday.

Haram’s strike into the top corner cancelled out a 69th minute header from Serdar Gelduyev and the result moves the Turkmen club into pole position in the group after two rounds of matches.

“We wanted to get a win from today’s match but we weren’t lucky,” said Al Hidd coach Salman Shareedah. “We didn’t have the good performance that we were looking forward to, either individually or as a group, in the first half of the match.

“In the second half things changed and the two sides played attacking football. We controlled the match after scoring the equaliser but we were not lucky and couldn’t score from the chances that we created.”

Neither side was able to find the breakthrough in a quiet first half in which Abdulwahab Al Malood forced Altyn Asyr goalkeeper Mamed Orazmuhammedov into action on the half-hour mark.

Soon after, Murat Yakshiyev’s shot from the tightest of angles went through the legs of substitute goalkeeper Ebrahim Lutfallah before going wide.

The second half, however, saw chances at both ends and, in the 69th minute, the Turkmen side took the lead when Gelduyev ran in front of the Al Hidd defence to meet Umidjan Astanov’s corner and head home.

Altyn Asyr’s advantage was to last less than 10 minutes, though, as Haram received the ball on the edge of the penalty area and took a touch to steady himself before slamming his shot into the top corner.

Al Hidd pushed for the winner, with Al Malood going close in stoppage time with a shot that flew across the face of goal, but Altyn Asyr held on to share the spoils and move to on four points from their opening two games.

“The two teams played well and the result was fair,” said Altyn Asyr coach Dmitriy Korj. “However, we couldn’t hold on to our lead and conceded a goal from a mistake that Al Hidd took advantage of.

“We lost two points from the match as we were hoping to get our second victory after the first game. We hope that we can fix the mistakes that we made today before the next matches in order to remain in contention.”