Dammam: Saudi Arabia’s Al Ettifaq were held to a frustrating goalless draw by Lebanon’s Al Ahed on Wednesday as both sides maintained unbeaten records in Group C of the AFC Cup.After both teams scored five goals in winning their Group C openers two weeks ago, goals were expected at Prince Mohammed Bin Fahad Stadium.
But despite Al Ettifaq dominating for long periods, the home side failed to find a way past Al Ahed goalkeeper Mohamad Santina, although the visitors did have their chances with Hassan Mezher wasting the best opportunity of the match for the visitors in the first half.
"It's really disappointing that we couldn't win as we wasted a lot of chances to score. Al Ahed played in a defensive formation and made things hard for us to create chances and score,” Said Al Ettifaq coach Branko Ivankovic.
"We were expecting a hard match and we were better in the second period and put them under a lot of pressure, but we were unlucky. Had we scored one goal, things would have been different."
Al Ettifaq enjoyed much more of the attacking play in the first half, with Saleh Al Saqri sending a flicked header crashing into the face of the crossbar before Yousef Al Salem headed narrowly over for the home side midway through the opening 45 minutes.
But the home side should have been behind at half-time as only a last-ditch block on the line from Bruno Lazaroni denied Mezher, although the defender should have done better with the goal at his mercy.
A flying save from Al Ahed goalkeeper Santina denied Hamad Al Hamad five minutes into the second half as the home side made a confident start to the second 45 minutes, although the visitors came close as Hussein Dakik drilled a shot just past the Al Ettifaq goalkeeper upright.
The open nature of the second half continued with chances at both ends as Al Salem was denied by the legs of Santina as the home side enjoyed the better of the scoring opportunities.
And Santina again came to the visitors’ rescue with five minutes remaining as the Al Ahed goalkeeper pushed a looping header from Yahya Otayn over the crossbar.
Substitute Saleh Bashar blazed wide in the closing stages as a frantic finish from the home side failed to bring a goal.
"The match was hard for us because Al Ettifaq are a strong team and they have great capabilities which made them favourites to win the match. We played with special tactics and tried to play on counter attacks,” said Al Ahed coach Mohamad Sahil.
"We achieved a draw which is valuable especially because we were playing away from home.
“Al Ettifaq are a great team, but they are going through a bad period and we played with a formation which made things hard for them."
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