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Morimoto off the mark as Al Nasr beat Dubai 4-1

Walter Zenga’s Al Nasr got back to winning ways on Sunday night with a 4-1 win in the Etisalat Pro League, punishing neighbours Dubai with a clinical display of finishing, including a brace from Takayuki Morimoto to open his scoring account. The win sees Al Nasr jump over Al Wahda back up into 6th position on 28 points, whilst Dubai sit 9th with a tally of 19 after their Round 18 fixture.

Al Nasr got off to the best possible start, piling on the pressure right from the offset, and it only took until the 9th minute for the home side to take the lead. Japanese playmaker Takayuki Morimoto controlled an overhead ball on his chest before spinning adeptly and hitting a right-footed shot across goal, which crept in at the far post to put Al Nasr 1-0 up with his first League goal since signing in January; much to the delight of the Japanese fans in the crowd. Less than ten minutes later Al Nasr doubled their lead as Humaid Abdulla’s powerful cross was diverted into the net by the unfortunate Dubai defender Mohamed Ismail, who got to the ball just ahead of the onrushing Morimoto to make it 2-0 in the 18th minute.

Humaid Abdulla was impressive down the right wing, and in the 24th minute his stinging shot was parried by Dubai’s goalkeeper Jamal Abdallah Ali but his clearance fell straight to the feet of Bruno Cesar, who made no mistake from close range, hitting through the shot with his laces and putting Al Nasr 3-0 up. Al Nasr continued to exert their dominance, and Habib Al Fardan saw his header from a corner cleared off the line by Mohamed Ismail in the 33rd minute, which could have put the game even further out of reach for Dubai. The visitors managed to sustain a spell of pressure before half time, but they were unable to make it count, failing to convert chances through Richard Porta and Juca, and the teams retreated to the dressing rooms with the scoreline at 3-0.

Dubai left their Al Nasr counterparts waiting on the pitch as they emerged late from their half-time team talk, and Rene Marsiglia’s words clearly had a positive effect as Dubai pulled a goal back just a minute after the restart. Magrao launched a long-range shot at goal, which Al Nasr custodian Ahmed Shambieh did well to push over the crossbar, but he could not stop Ahmed Mallah’s header from the resulting corner from finding the back of the net, reducing the deficit to 3-1 in the 47th minute. The second half was always going to be tougher than the first for Al Nasr, who had a tiring midweek trip to Iran to contend with, and their fatigue showed as Dubai found more opportunities to threaten and kept the home side camped in their own half for long spells of the game. For Dubai, Richard Porta saw two gilt-edged chances go to waste just before the hour mark. Meanwhile Humaid Abdulla, who had been so productive in the opening period, saw little of the ball in the opening stages of the second half, and although he managed a few dangerous link-ups with Habib Al Fardan and Takayuki Morimoto, he was replaced in the 62nd minute by Essa Ali.

A scrappy second period of 45 saw both sides struggling to play with much fluidity, and Dubai squandered chance after chance, with Richard Porta particularly wasteful in front of goal. The visitors were made to pay for their missed chances as Al Nasr put the game out of sight in the 73rd minute; a cross whipped in from the left was met by Morimoto, whose looping header evaded the Dubai goalkeeper and nestled into the back of the net to make it 4-1. Three minutes later Morimoto almost netted a hat-trick, but his shot flew just wide and the game ended 4-1, with the home side cruising in the latter stages.