Hughton Hector played 90mins in a 0-1 AFC Cup lossSong Lam Nghe An 0-1 Terengganu
Tuesday, 06 March 2012 18:29
Vinh: Abdul Manaf converted Terengganu's sole shot on target as the Malaysian FA Cup winners Terengganu kicked off their AFC Cup campaign with a 1-0 win over Vietnam champions Song Lam Nghe An in Group F on Tuesday.
Song Lam, who reached the Round of 16 last year after winning their group before losing to Indonesia's Persipura Jayapura, dominated for the majority of the contest but failed to convert five clear cut chances at an atmospheric Vinh Stadium.
And six minutes after the hour mark Manaf picked the ball up outside of the Song Lam area and beat goalkeeper Tran Nguyen Manh with the visitors' first effort on target.
Song Lam, who have made a solid start to the defence of their Vietnamese Super League title and are unbeaten in their last five games after sharing a 2-2 draw with Kien Giang on Friday, were unable to find a response in the closing stages.
Terengganu currently sit just three points off the pace at the start of the new Malaysia Super League season after last season's runners-up beat Kuala Lumpur 1-0 on Saturday.
Jlloyd Samuel played 90 mins in a 1-0 Champions League winAl Rayyan 0-1 Esteghlal
Tuesday, 06 March 2012 19:03
Doha: Substitute Goran Jerkovic scored in stoppage time as Iranian giants Esteghlal followed up their back-to-back play-offs wins with a dramatic 1-0 victory over Qatar's Al Rayyan at the Ahmed bin Ali Stadium in the AFC Champions League on Tuesday.
The match appeared to be headed for a goalless draw until French striker Jerkovic, who had come on for Milad Midavoodi with nine minutes left, turned the ball in from close range after it had been deflected fortuitously into his path.
It was enough to give Esteghlal, who beat fellow Iran Pro League side Zob Ahan and Saudi Arabia's Al Ettifaq in the play-offs last month to earn a place in Group A, only their third away win in the AFC Champions League and their first victory in Qatar in the competition.
The win also sent the Iran Pro League side three points clear at the top of the group after the match between Nasaf and Al Jazira had been postponed to Wednesday following heavy snowfall in Karshi.
Prior to Jerkovic's late heroics, the match had been a largely scrappy affair with few real scoring opportunities.
Esteghlal defender Ali Hamoudi was lucky to stay on the pitch in the 30th minute after he was only shown a yellow card for a shocking late challenge on Younes Ali.
And the visitors had a big claim for a penalty five minutes later when Esmaeil Sharifat went down in the box after he tried to get around the challenge of Abdulla Afifa, but all that the Esteghlal player got for his troubles was a yellow card for diving.
Al Rayyan should have taken the lead just before the hour as a swift counter-attack caught the Esteghlal defence cold and as they scrambled to get back in numbers, Rodrigo Tabata's pass found Leandro all alone inside the box but the Brazilian striker could only fire his shot over the crossbar.
With 12 minutes left, Afonso Alves nearly broke the deadlock for the hosts with a shot from just outside the area which took a big deflection off a defender before being magnificently saved by goalkeeper Mahdi Rahmati, who twisted in the air to palm the ball away as it threatened to dip over his head.
But as the match went into stoppage time, it was the visitors who finally struck after a quickly taken free-kick by Hanif Omranzadeh caught out the Al Rayyan defence and Jerkovic turned home from close range after a shot from the edge of the area deflected off an Al Rayyan defender and fell invitingly into the Frenchman's path.
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