Brett Holman urges Al Nasr to respond to Al Jazira defeat by fighting for top four place

Brett Holman, left, in action during Al Nasr's 4-2 defeat to Al Jazira on Sunday, March 22. Afsal Sham / Al Ittihad

DUBAI // Brett Holman said his Al Nasr side have plenty left to play for this season, despite Sunday’s dispiriting Arabian Gulf League home defeat against Al Jazira.

Beginning the match in fifth place, the Dubai club dominated their third-placed rivals during the first half at Al Maktoum Stadium and went into the break 1-0 up.

However, Nasr were blown away after the restart, when Mirko Vucinic and Jonathan Pitroipa each scored twice as Jazira eventually triumphed 4-2 to move second.

The result was particularly tough on Nasr as they did not seize the opportunity to close the gap on the teams above them in the table. Victory would have reduced Jazira’s advantage over them to five points with six rounds remaining.

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Following the defeat, Nasr are still in fifth, but they now lie five points behind Al Wahda, who are fourth.

Holman, though, called on his teammates to regroup during the upcoming international break and return refreshed and refocused when their league campaign resumes away to Al Dhafra on April 2.

With the Arabian Gulf Cup already in their trophy cabinet, Nasr have the defence of the Gulf Clubs Championship to contend with, too, having last week moved joint top of Group C with one more pool match to come.

Asked how important it is to rebound from the Jazira loss, Holman said: “It’s huge. This was a massive game just given the league rankings.

“If we had won this you can look upwards, but it’s sort of mid-table stuff a little bit now.

“So we’ve got to focus on the next six games to the end, and we’ve still got our Gulf Cup to take care of.

“So it’s a huge thing. In one way, it’s lucky we have 10 days so we can concentrate on what we’ve got to repair.”

Last season, Nasr performed brilliantly during the final weeks of the season, winning four of their last five matches to just miss out on a top-four finish behind Al Shabab, who held a superior head-to-head record.

Holman maintains Nasr can go one better this time around, especially after proving in the first half on Sunday that they can contend with the division’s top teams.

“You can give it a good shake,” he said.

“We’ve got to take the positives, but we’ve definitely got to sort out the negatives as well. If we can sort that out, then we’re certainly a match for anybody.”

Pablo Hernandez, the midfielder signed on loan late in the winter window, echoed those sentiments. Having excelled on his debut in January as Nasr clinched the Arabian Gulf Cup, the Spaniard hopes his new side can conclude the season on an even more positive note.

“It was very important to win this game because we could fight for second and third place,” he said.

“Now it’s not possible because there are only six games left. It’s too difficult to achieve.

“But this team has to fight for the last six games.

“We have 18 points in front of us, and we have to try to win as many points as we can to arrive in third. It’s difficult, but we’ll see.”

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