DUBAI // Two of Al Nasr's underachievers rediscovered their form at the Maktoum Stadium on Friday night to relieve the pressure on coach Luca Bonacic and give the Blue Wave a great start to Group C Etisalat Cup. Mehrzad Madanchi and Reza Enayati, both disappointing in the side's poor early season form, scored the goals in a 2-0 win to gain revenge on Al Ahli for their opening day defeat and finally give some home comfort to the supporters.
"I must congratulate my players for their fighting," said a delighted Bonacic. "Tonight we played well defensively, we kept our positions and didn't make the stupid personal mistakes like we did in the past two games. "It's not easy to come up against Ahli after losing two games in our stadium, but we did a good job. The performance will give us confidence, yet the league is still very important for us. It might be a new start for my side."
While Madanchi and Enayati sealed the win, it was Musalem Golum who shone, providing two telling passes that led to the goals. The midfielder, recalled to the team after recently increasing his training program, fed Mohamed Omer on 27 minutes as the lively forward crashed his shot against the bar and Madanchi headed the rebound into an open goal. The second followed 12 minutes later, when a long ball from Golum caused confusion in the Ahli defence. Enayati reacted quickest to provide a simple finish past Salah Abas.
Ivan Hasek, the Ahli coach, was disappointed with his side's performance - their second successive defeat - and blamed poor finishing for the loss. Gaor Foni, employed up front on his own, was the main culprit as he contrived to miss a trio of simple opportunities in the first half. "I won't blame anyone personally, but it's about taking your chance to score," said the Czech. "At 0-0 we had three chances alone and didn't finish them.
"Every player has the possibility to play better than we are at the moment. We're not strong, our heads are down, but we need to pick things up quickly. We must improve." sports@thenational.ae