Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Beirut: El Hadji Malick Tall's third goal of the campaign was the difference as Lebanon's Al Ansar overcame Syria's Al Wahda 1-0 on Matchday Four of the AFC Cup Group C on Tuesday.
Al Wahda attacked from the start as Bassel Moustafa looked to add to his three goals in the competition, but his sixth minute effort was saved by goalkeeper Rabea El Kakhi. Al Ansar responded just five minutes later through Tall who watched as his shot was parried away by Al Wahda's Khaled Ibrahim.
The home side continued to push for a goal as Alaa El Baba's shot from outside the box went wide in the 34th minute. Just three minutes before the half time whistle, Abbas Atwi came close to opening the scoring for Al Ansar but his placed shot missed the target by a narrow margin as the two sides headed into the break goalless.
The second half started with a bang as Tall received Atwi's through pass and curled it from the edge of the box into the back of Ibrahim's net, to hand Al Ansar the lead and earn the Senegalese a goal for the third game running.
The Lebanese side continued to dominate and had a golden chance to double their lead in the 75th minute when El Baba beat the goalkeeper with an angled effort but saw his attempt cannon off the crossbar to limit Al Ansar's win to a single goal at the final whistle.
Al Ansar avenged their 2-1 defeat to Al Wahda on Matchday Three and moved past them into second place with six points with a home fixture against group bottom Dhofar next up for them. Meanwhile, Al Wahda stayed at five points in third place and will pay hosts to Jordan's Al Faisaly on Matchday Five.