MANAMA - Al Faisaly successfully defended their AFC Cup crown despite going down 4-2 to Bahrain's Muharraq in the second leg of the AFC Cup final on Friday as they emerged 5-4 aggregate winners thanks to their 3-0 first leg win in Amman.

The Jordanian side staved off a strong fight back from the 28-time Bahrain champions, with a last minute goal from substitute strike Siraj Al Tal ensuring Al Faisaly kept hold of the trophy they won by defeating Lebanon's Al Nejmeh 4-2 on aggregate in last year's final.

After losing the 2006 final first leg 3-0, Muharraq dispensed with the services of Carlos Elinho and the coaching void was filled by Khalifa Al Zayani who made several changes to the side that lost heavily in Amman.

Ibrahim Al Mishkhas and Mahmoud Abdulrahman returned from suspension and Nigerian Fatai Babatunde made way for Faouzi Ayesh in the Muharraq midfield, while Al Faisaly's Iraq coach Adnan Hamd welcomed back the suspended duo of Moayad Salim and Khaled Saed, who came in for Siraj Al Tal and first leg goal scorer Hussein Odtallah respectively.

The home side dominated the early exchanges and their dominance paid off in the 18th minute when they took the lead through 19-year-old striker Abdullah Omar, who charged into the right side of the area and fired the ball past Loai Al Amayreh from an acute angle.

Muharraq should have doubled their lead shortly after but Al Amayreh did well to block a powerful shot from Nigerian striker Jaycee John.

Al Faisaly gradually came into the game and leveled in the 35th minute when Iraqi defender Haider Abdulamer capitalized on a moment of confusion between Muharraq goalkeeper Ali Hassan and his defence.

However, Muharraq regained their lead eight minutes into the second half when Leandson Dias slotted home after being set-up by Jaycee John, who touched Mahmood Abdulrahman pass into the path of the Brazilian attacker.

Muharraq made it 3-1 on the night when Ibrahim Al Mishkhas headed home on the hour mark before Mahmood Abdulrahman leveled the tie on aggregate with a powerful right foot drive two minutes later.

Leandson Dias almost swung the tie in Muharraq's favour in the 78th minute but his stinging 30-yarder was well saved by Al Amayreh and with Al Faisaly looking to have triumphed on away goals substitute Siraj Al Tal made sure of the victory when he intercepted a weak headed back pass from Bahrain defender Ibrahim Al Mishkhas and nodded the ball past Muharraq keeper Ali Hassan to score the decisive goal.

Al Faisaly coach Adnan Hamad said their three-goal cushion from the first leg had allowed complacency to set in. "The game was hard for us and I warned the players not to be too overconfident." "However, after the positive result in the first half of tonight's game their confidence increased and this almost cost us the title." "We conceded three goals in fifteen minutes and my players lost concentration so I had to make the three substitutions and get my players organized again."

Muharraq coach Khalifa Al Zayani blamed the defeat on defensive errors in both legs. "I congratulate Al Faisaly for winning the title for the second consecutive year. The game was exciting and I'm sure that the fans were happy with the performance of both sides."

"We made some defensive mistakes in both legs and I only had the chance to train the team for four days and that wasn't enough time to improve our attacking performance."

"The game was very hard as we had to attack and this meant that we left a lot of spaces at the back."

"However, I think we lost the title after our first leg defeat in Jordan and although we put in a better performance today, Al Faisaly deserve the title."