AFC Cup : “the result is a fair one”,saysal-Jaish coach Makhlouf

Beirut:Syria’s Al Jaishand Lebanon’s Nejmeh remain winless in this year’s AFC Cup after sharing a goalless draw at Sports City Stadium on Tuesday.

Neither side were able to convert their periods of dominance into a breakthrough, with Al Jaish coming the closest as SamerBelal’s deflected strike hit the post in stoppage time at the end of the second half,reports the AFC correspondent.

And with Oman’s Fanja beating Kuwait Sports Club 2-1 to move a point clear of the defending champions at the top of the Group B table, unbeaten Al Jaish find themselves a point adrift in third with Nejmeh a point further off the pace.

Nejmeh controlled proceedings in the first half but were unable to test visiting goalkeeper TahaMousa, while Al Jaish were happy to defend deep.

With heavy rainfall at the start of the second half creating a testing playing surface, Al Jaish eventually emerged on top but after failing to take advantage, Nejmeh improved as the half progressed.

But after themselves being unable to turn that dominance into a breakthrough, Al Jaish almost snatched all three points in the first minute of added time only for Belal’s deflected strike to come back off the post.

“We should forget this match as we should have won tonight,” said Nejmeh coach Theo Bucker. “We have no excuse despite the conditions that we had in the match as our players were not good and we are lucky that we got a point today.”

“The draw is disappointing for us and now we should not lose any points in our next matches. We missed our Senegalese midfielder CheikhSy as his absence affected our performance in the match tonight.”

For Al Jaish coach AnasMakhlouf, the result was a fair one.

“Despite the fact that two teams played hard, the result was fair and I want to thank our players for their great effort in the match despite the heavy rain in the second period when we were the better side,” he said.

“The players followed our instructions and managed to get a positive result. The next match against Kuwait SC will not be easy as our opponents will be trying to make a good comeback after their defeat at the hands of Fanja today.”

M.Daoud