Late gains for Baniyas in Gulf Clubs Championship final's first leg

Baniyas will have home field and a man advantage on Al Khor in the second leg of their Gulf Clubs Championship final after drawing 1-1 to the Qatar club, which saw their Brazilian striker Bruno Mineiro sent off.

Baniyas' Sultan Al Ghaferi goes flying in his challenge on Al Khor's Brazilian striker Bruno Mineiro.

AL KHOR 1

BANIYAS 1

Al Khor Mineiros 9'

Baniyas Senghor 69'

Red card Bruno Mineiro (Al Khor)

Man of Match Andre Senghor (Baniyas)

Baniyas will have the advantage of an away goal and Al Khor's Brazilian forward Bruno Mineiro sitting out when the Qatari club travel to Abu Dhabi for the return leg of the Gulf Clubs Championship final on Thursday.

The Pro League club salvaged a 1-1 draw after Andre Senghor cancelled Mineiro's first-half goal on Friday night in the away leg at the Al Khawr stadium in Doha.

Al Khor were reduced to 10 players after Mineiro was sent off for two bookings, the first for a deliberate handball and the next for a foul on Mohammed Jaber in the 71st minute of the game.

The referee gave the marchng orders a few minutes after Senghor had rounded off an excellent move with a sliding effort to score off low cross from Haboush Saleh.

Early in the match, Jaber had an opportunity to put Baniyas ahead, but was too late on the far post on a ball that was headed towards him by Christian Wilhelmsson.

Minutes later Al Khor worked the ball to the other end for Mineiro to score off a superb pass from Julio Cesar, who drew out the goalkeeper Mohammed Ghuloom, to leave his Brazilian compatriot with a simple tap from six yards in to an empty goal.

They nearly doubled the lead when a volley from Cesar crashed against the bar and Mineiro made a hash of the rebound by deliberately pushing it with his hand, for which he got away with a caution.

Ghuloom did well to block a rocket from Khalid Ibrahim, a 25th minute substitute for the injured Brazilian forward Madison.

Saleh fumbled with a close range shot early in the second half and Baba Djibril, the Al Khor keeper, did well to push out a curling low shot from Nawaf Mubarak.

Mohamed Aboutrika was unlucky when his effort ricocheted off the crossbar, but moments later Senghor was on target to level the scores and keep Baniyas' hopes of a silverware alive for the season.

With the numerical advantage Baniyas pushed hard for a winner, but the closest they came was a header from Senghor off a long ball from Saleh that fell wide.

Last year, Diego Maradona's Al Wasl lost the final to Al Muharraq of Bahrain after they surrendered 3-1 in the first leg, a dramatic match that saw the Pro League club's goalkeeper Majed Naser and Rashid Essa sent off.

Muharraq capitalised on the numerical advantage to win that game 3-1 to force a 4-4 aggregate, and then win 5-4 in a shootout.

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