Luis Garcia satisfied in making point in Baniyas’ opening draw against Al Nasr

Luis Garcia’s first game in charge of Baniyas in the Arabian Gulf League ended in a stalemate against Al Nasr, who finished the match with 10 men. “To share a point in the first league game is a satisfying start than losing it,” Garcia said.

Renan Garcia, left, and his Al Nasr teammates found themselves in a closely marked match with Haboush Saleh Haboush and Baniyas. Al Ittihad

Baniyas - Habou 9' Al Nasr - Holman 40'

Red card - Ibrahima Toure (Al Nasr)

ABU DHABI // Luis Garcia's first game in charge of Baniyas in the Arabian Gulf League ended in a stalemate against Al Nasr, who finished the match with 10 men.

Haboush Saleh gave the home side an early lead and Brett Holman struck the equaliser shortly before the break in a 1-1 draw.

Ibrahima Toure was given a straight red for what appeared to be an unprovoked backhand to the face of Baniyas’ Mohammed Jaber. The defender was left with blood pouring from his face as an irate Toure had to be escorted from the field after his sending-off.

“To share a point in the first league game is a satisfying start than losing it,” Garcia said.

“We are rebuilding the team and had little time before the first game, as the new players arrived late and some of the key local players were on national duty during our camp.

“I think we can be satisfied with the result and the performance, particularly in the first half. Of course, we will be looking to build on this game and look forward to a better result.”

Ivan Jovanovic, the Nasr coach, said they were unsettled by the early goal but regained their composure to equalise.

“Having taken control, we lost Toure,” he said. “From then onwards, we used the counter-attack to good effect and still created a couple of chances, but couldn’t score. Under the circumstances, we are satisfied.”

Baniyas got off to a flying start when John Verdu rolled in a corner that Talib Salem left with a clever sidestep for Haboush Saleh, unmarked on top of the box, to take a low first-time shot to the back of the net to give Baniyas a heady start.

However, captain Holman cancelled it out five minutes before the break.

Abdulla Qasem worked his way down the flank and slipped a low pass for the Australian, who had enough time to take aim and slam it past Mohammed Khalef, the Baniyas goalkeeper.

OTHER GAMES

AJMAN 2 AL JAZIRA 3

Ajman - Kabi (pen) 45'+1, Malalla 82'

Al Jazira - Lanzini 40', 45'+4, Vucinic (pen) 71'

Ajman and Al Jazira served up a five-goal thriller to start their seasons, with the visitors getting off to a winning start. Two goals from Manuel Lanzini and a penalty from Mirko Vucinic enabled Al Jazira to take three points back to Abu Dhabi, despite Ajman netting twice through Boris Kabi and Ahmed Malalla. Jazira could have had more, with two clear chances for Sultan Al Suwaidi and Hassan Ameen in injury time, but the score remained 3-2.

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