Ten minutes were all Al Nasr needed to secure Arabian Gulf Cup final victory against Sharjah and for Pablo Hernandez to announce himself as a star.
With the Arabian Gulf League resumption imminent, the former Spain winger sent out a message on his debut. There was no peacocking, only supreme quality, remaining a step ahead of his criminally-hospitable opponents only one day after completing his loan switch from Qataris Al Arabi.
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The 29-year-old teed up lethal striker Ibrahima Toure’s early opener from a free-kick then sidefooted in the second with aplomb following a beautiful Brett Holman throughball.
Toure’s volley on 10 minutes saw the Blue Wave seal a second piece of silverware since May’s GCC Club Cup, Sharjah registering a consolation soon after through Rodriguinho’s low finish.
Hernandez’s energy reserves were high enough to win a 60th-minute penalty following a wild Shahin Abdulrahman slide tackle, Mahmoud Khamis playfully converting to make it 4-1.
Embarrassing goalkeeping from King stand-in Rashid Ahmed was also painfully apparent for the first and third, regular Mohamed Yousif away at the Asian Cup celebrating the UAE’s third-place play-off triumph on Friday.
Ex-Valencia wide man Hernandez was heralded by the crowd following his late substitution, coach Ivan Jovanovic – aggressively recruited from APOEL in 2013 – receiving similarly well-earned praise at the final whistle.
The Serbian is a serial winner, a blistering beginning key in gaining him an 11th trophy in 12 years. He, Hernandez and inspirational skipper Holman will need to remain vital figures for Nasr to mount a push for AFC Champions League qualification in the second half of the season.
In contrast, the picture remains a grim one for Sharjah boss Paulo Bonamigo. A fixture that could have elicited a confidence boost was characterised by the continued sloppy play that sees them down in 12th – one place and three points above the relegation zone.
It seems a lifetime since May’s ultimately fruitless push for a top-three AGL finish.
Pain was not the sole preserve of those attached to Sharjah. Ivan Trickovski is the main victim of Hernandez’s inspirational arrival, the long-time Jovanovic acolyte left out of the match-day squad and seemingly set for a winter-transfer-window exit as the fifth man sitting outside the four-player foreign quota.
With a difference of seven places in the AGL table between them, this decider at Al Ahli’s Rashid Stadium for the season’s first piece of silverware had appeared a mismatch.
This fear was proven true in just the third minute as Hernandez’s chipped free-kick was met by an unmarked Toure, his ad-libbed volley squirming through Ahmed’s flimsy grasp.
Two goals in two minutes soon proved key. Holman’s driving run and cute lookaway pass played in Hernandez, Toure then meeting a Khamis corner with enough power to see Ahmed miscue another ordinary catch.
Hope appeared for Sharjah when a sloppy lateral Ali Hussain pass was intercepted on 18 minutes, Wanderley’s unselfish ball allowing Rodriguinho to sidefoot home.
UAE hope Yousef Saeed grazed the crossbar with a flicked header minutes later, but this was as close as Sharjah got.
Khamis converted from the spot during a second half dominated by Toure. The Senegal international missed two sitters then, from nowhere, did a provocative handstand in the area that saw handbags begin.
Substituted soon after, the final stages went quietly in his absence. The King never came close to claiming the AGC crown.
