Al Ramtha 1-2 Al Shorta

Syrian champions Al Shorta moved three points clear of Al Ramtha at the top of Group D alongside Kuwait’s Al Qadsia after recording a 2-1 win over the Jordanian side in the AFC Cup on Tuesday.

With Al Shorta looking to bounce back after losing their perfect record last week with a 1-0 defeat by Al Ramtha, Mohammed Al Wakid opened the scoring for the Syrian champions midway through the first half at King Abdullah International Stadium before Al Ramtha defender Ali Khwaileh was sent-off.

Mohammad Kassas was able to respond from the penalty spot for Al Ramtha just before half-time, but Ahmad Al Saleh netted for Al Shorta with just over half an hour remaining to ensure the Syrian side matched Al Qadsia’s earlier 3-1 win over Ravshan in Tajikistan.

“We played a good game tonight and produced a fighting performance against a good side who took advantage of playing at home in front of their fans. We had a better match from the one that we had last week,” said Al Shorta assistant coach Radwan Al Abrach.

“We went into the match with big motivation to win and avenge our defeat from last week and the three points will help us to get closer to the knockout stage. We have big ambition as we have a good team with a lot of experience.”

Having seen their 100% start ended in Zerqa City last week as Al Ramtha’s Ivorian striker Kesse Amangoua netted the only goal with 11 minutes remaining, Al Shorta opened the scoring after 27 minutes of the return fixture as Al Wakid headed home Ammar Zakour’s cross following a quick counterattack.

And Al Ramtha received a further blow six minutes later as Khwaileh was shown a straight red card following a foul on Ahmad Kallasi.

But Al Shorta were unable to take advantage of their numerical superiority and four minutes before half-time Kassas converted from the penalty spot after being upended by Ali Ghalioum inside the area.

Al Shorta, though, regained their dominance in the second half and hit back three minutes before the hour mark as Ghalioum’s corner was headed home by Al Saleh.

Al Ramtha stepped up their search for an equaliser in the closing stages, but were unable to find a response to slip three points off the pace after suffering a second defeat of the campaign.

“The players were tired as they played three hard matches in a few days and this affected us.

Playing with 10 men also affected the players and we failed to match the strength of Al Shorta in the second period,” said Al Ramtha coach Belal Al Laham.

“Despite playing with 10 men, we created many chances in the last minutes but the players tried to score quickly without any concentration. We still have six points available from the next two matches and hopefully we can fight to get these points.”

Source:AFC