Friday 19 / April / 2024
Muscat: A ten-man Suwaiq suffered their fifth defeat in the AFC Cup when they were beaten 2-1 by Bahrain’s Malkiya at the Seeb Sports Stadium on Tuesday.
The result helped Malkiya keep their hopes of qualifying to the next round alive.
According to news posted on the AFC website, Suwaiq thought they had taken an early lead in their Group A match when Mahmoud Al Mushaifri found space down the right-hand side to cross for Muhsen Al Ghassani, whose first-time effort cannoned off the post in the 11th minute to the dismay of the home crowd.
Instead, it was the Bahraini visitors who broke the deadlock a minute later in an identical fashion. Hashim Isa showed composure to finish Waleed Abdulrahman’s cross from the right wing for his third goal of the 2018 AFC Cup.
Al Suwaiq slowly grew into the match but had to wait until the hour-mark to get their equaliser when Abdulaziz Al Maqbali embarked on a jinking run to make his way past three Malkiya defenders before his fellow Omani international Khaled Al Hajri latched onto the ball and applied a composed finish to equalise for the hosts.
An off-the-ball challenge from Al Suwaiq’s Omar Al Fazari saw the Omani side reduced to 10 men after the midfielder was shown the red card in the 65th minute.
Malkiya took advantage of their numerical superiority and grabbed the winner in the final minute of regular time after Syrian midfielder Israa Hamwia was brought down inside the box. Hamwia stepped up and converted from the spot to earn the Bahraini side their second win of the campaign.
