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Dubai: Al Ahli's Czech coach Ivan Hasek was left ruing his side's missed chances as they dropped two vital points against defending league champions Al Wasl in the etisalat UAE National Football League.
"I am not at all satisfied with the performance of my team on all fronts. We had far too many missed chances, some vital mistakes in the defence and we lost our focus and allowed ourselves to drift after taking the early lead," Hasek told Gulf News.
Hasek was reacting to his side's 3-3 draw against defending champions Al Wasl at home late on Friday. The draw keeps this year's President's Cup winners in second with 33 points, still two less than current league leaders and neighbours Al Shabab.
Al Jazira are in third with 32 points, while Sharjah follow in fourth with the same number of points. Al Ain are fifth (29) and Al Wasl stay sixth with 27 points.
'Lost our focus'
"We should have never allowed Al Wasl to come back into the game after that early 2-0 lead," Hasek said.
"We took the lead and then simply stopped playing. We lost our focus and the players let down their guard and relaxed thinking that the two goals would see them home as the new league leaders. It's all in the mind," he added.
After surviving some early jitters, Al Ahli slammed in two quick goals within three minutes through Milad Midawoodi (17th minute) and Faisal Khalil (20th) to take control of the match.
But the defending champions - playing without any of their three Brazilian imports due to suspensions or injuries - did well to claw back a goal through super-cool skipper Mohammad Salem Al Enazi just a minute away from halftime.
Despite an off-the-pitch altercation between the suspended Andre Dias, the Al Wasl striker, and some of the Al Ahli players, the visitors did well to regroup in the second half and find the equaliser through a superbly taken free kick from substitute Roggiero in the 64th minute.
That brought the game alive and Al Ahli took the lead yet again within two minutes, when Faisal Khalil had the easiest of tap-ins after Midawoodi did well down the left.
But Maher Jassem had the last laugh for Al Wasl as he toed in a perfect pass from the lively Khalid Darwish eight minutes from the end.
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