Nasr put another dent in Schaefer's dream

AL AIN // Winfried Schaefer's claims of winning all the trophies available seems to be slipping away after Al Ain's 2-1 home defeat to Al Nasr. Al Nasr jumped six places to fourth in the Pro League point standings after the result at the Khalifa bin Zayed Stadium. The Iranian Mehrzad Madanchi struck twice within eight minutes to hand out a second defeat to the nine-times league champions and severely dented their hopes of staying with the leaders Al Ahli and Al Jazira. Madanchi sent a neat shot into the corner of the net in the 52nd minute after a cross from Mohammed Ali and lobbed the next in after a clearance from the Senegalese Andre Senghor to double the lead eight minutes later. The substitute Faisal Ali pulled one back deep into the injury time when he lunged forward to head a free kick from the edge box but it came too late for Schaefer's men. Nasr's victory was marred by the sending off of the goalkeeper Abdulla Moosa for his time wasting two minutes from time, but the visitors had done enough to return with full points. Moosa had played his part in his team's win with a couple of good saves early in the game. Ali al Wehaibi had earlier missed a glorious chance to put the home side ahead. He was gifted an opportunity in front of the goalmouth when Mohammed Nosrati badly misjudged a high ball two minutes into the game, but the midfielder only managed to poke the ball towards Moosa from eight yards. And later in the game, Moosa did well to recover and grab the ball after slipping and failing to collect a long ball off an awkward bounce with al Wehaibi charging down and then punched away a Jorge Valdivia free kick from the edge of the box. [e-mail]