Al Ain 3 Al Nasr 0
Al Ain: Caio (22)', Ahmed (58'), O Abdulrahman (78' pen)
Story of the match:
AL AIN // Zoran Mamic made an immediate impact as the new manager of Al Ain by leading his side to a resounding 3-0 win over Al Nasr in his first game in charge at the Hazza bin Zayed stadium.
Brazilian winger Caio opened the scoring and Ismail Ahmed doubled the lead before a spot kick from Omar Abdulrahman sealed the victory.
Al Ain reclaimed second spot in the Arabian Gulf League, but still trail leaders Al Jazira by seven points after the Abu Dhabi side edged Kalba 1-0. In the early game, Al Ahli defeated Dibba 2-0 to keep alive their title defence.
Al Ain got the opener when Saudi Arabian forward Nasser Al Shamrani flashed an effort across goal which was parried by Nasr goalkeeper Ahmed Shambeh into the path of Caio, who finished into an empty net.
Ahmed doubled the hosts’s lead when he latched onto a through ball from Abdulrahman, and provider then turned finisher for the third goal, calmly slotting home a penalty after Khalifa Mubarak’s blatant handball.
The game may have panned out differently for Nasr had Moroccan midfielder Abdelaziz Barrada not missed a sitter with the game only two minutes old. Barrada was also unlucky when his free kick from the edge of the box crashed against the bar in first half added time.
Man of the match — Caio (Al Ain)
Caio provided the platform for victory with the opening goal and had the Nasr defence drawn towards him time and again with his attacking forays.
The National verdict:
The ideas and tactics may have been the same but sometimes a new personality in the dressing room can work wonders. It seems to at Al Ain, first under Josco Spanjic, the youth team coach who was caretaker for one game, and on Friday night under Zoran Mamic, the new manager.
What the managers said:
Zoran Mamic, Al Ain: "It was a difficult start for us, Nasr had some chances. But after that, we took control of the game for the next 70 minutes. We presented, I think, good football. After this game, of course you know better than me, that there is a lot of potential and quality within this team. I hope so very soon, we will enjoy seeing some injured players back into the team. Then, we will have more quality."
Dan Petrescu, Al Nasr: "Of course, we are not happy with the result. We played very well in the first half, maybe the best 45 minutes of my time as coach here. But when you have chances against Al Ain, you must score. It was 1-0 to Al Ain, but should have been at least 3-1 to us. The second half was the worst of my time here as a coach. This is football, if you don't score."
Other games:
■ Al Jazira maintained their seven-point lead at the summit after a hard-fought 1-0 win over Kalba at the Mohammed bin Zayed stadium. Ali Mabkhout netted his 17th league goal of the season when he tapped in a low cross from Mohammed Fawzi for a 29th minute winner to stretch Jazira’s winning streak to six.
■ Ahmed Khalil and Habib Fardan struck on either side of half time for Al Ahli to return 2-0 winners over Dibba, who ended the game with 10 players after Abdulla Nacer was sent off after two yellow cards three minutes from time.
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