Ibrahima Toure fires brace as Al Nasr consign Al Ain to third defeat on the trot

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  • Challenging for top spot: Al Nasr (blue) have six points from two games as they chase group top spot with a game still in hand.

    An Ibrahima Toure brace saw Al Nasr come from behind to subject Al Ain to a 2-1 home defeat in Arabian Gulf Cup action at the Hazza bin Zayed Stadium on Wednesday.

    The hosts took an early lead through Korean midfielder Lee Myung-Joo but two headers from Toure in the final 16 minutes saw Nasr grab the win, leaving Al Ain with zero points from three matches and bottom of Group A.

    Nasr now have six points from two games and lie second behind Al Shabab with a game in hand. The other Group A action also saw Kalba earn a come-from-behind 2-1 away victory over Ajman to move up to third in the table.

    Captain Driss Fettouhi put Ajman in front in the 15th minute but a Masoud Hassan own goal 10 minutes later levelled the match.

    Sultan Hareb scored the winner for Kalba in the 28th minute. Over at the Sharjah Stadium, defending champions Al Ahli suffered a humiliating 4-1 drubbing at the hands of the hosts.

    The Red Knights were missing seven of their key players – Abdelaziz Haikal, Majed Hassan, Habib Fardan, Abdelaziz Sanqour, Walid Abbas, Ismail Al Hammadi, and Ahmed Khalil – who are all in Saudi Arabia with the UAE national team for the Gulf Cup.

    Ahmed Khamis opened the scoring for the home side in the 14th minute with a left-footed bullet from the edge of the box that beat Ahli ‘keeper Saif Yousif.

    Saif Alshemili doubled the lead 10 minutes later, taking advantage of a mix-up between Yousif and Mirel Radoi which allowed him to fire into an empty goal.

    New Ahli signing Carlos Munoz pulled one back for the visitors eight minutes from the break.

    The Chilean did well to stay onside as he latched onto a pass from Grafite before calmly slotting home past Sharjah custodian Rashid Ahmed.

    Soon after the interval, Grafite thought his header had crossed the goalline but his protests were all in vain as the equaliser was disallowed.

    Wanderley Santos headed in an Alshemili cross to make it 3-1 for the hosts before Rodriguinho got rid of his marksmen Basheer Saeed and Radoi to complete the rout for Sharjah, who now top Group B with seven points from three games.

    Ahli are fourth in the group with just one win and two defeats. Cup action will resume next week on Tuesday and Wednesday with Group A leaders Shabab and Nasr facing off in a highly-anticipated Dubai derby.

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