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Rodrigo Pimpao fired in the winner in second-half stoppage time to earn Emirates Club a 2-1 victory and all but end Al Nasr's hopes of retaining the Arabian Gulf Cup (AGC) on Monday evening.
The Group A encounter looked set to finish in a 1-1 draw once Waleed Ambar's wonderstrike had cancelled out Jamal Ibrahim's opener.
However, in a frenetic and end-to-end finale, Pimpao's well-struck finish flashed right through Ahmed Shambieh at his near post to clinch all three points and leave Nasr on the brink of group-phase elimination.
There is now a four-way fight at the top of the table, with Emirates joining Nasr, Al Ahli and Al Wasl on seven points at the summit, although Nasr only have one game still left to play whereas Emirates have two and Ahli and Wasl three.
The Blue Wave bossed the opening exchanges both in terms of possession and territorially and spurned good chances to take the lead either side of the quarter of an hour mark.
Ibrahim capped a jinky, mazy run down the inside-left channel with a low, diagonal attempt that goalkeeper Ahmed Al Shaji did well to tip around his far post.
Jassim Yaqoob then expertly picked out an unmarked Luis Jimenez with a pinpoint chip, but the Chilean-Palestinian midfielder's placed effort was straight at a relatively unperturbed Al Shaji.
Having failed to take those presentable opportunities, Emirates came more into the first half as this cup clash wore on and they arguably squandered the best opening prior to the interval on 28 minutes.
Ambar's intended cross came crashing back off the near post and, with shot-stopper Shambieh sprawled on the turf, Brett Holman just couldn't latch onto the rebound with the goal gaping. Mohammad Malalla did eventually connect with the loose ball, yet Ali Al Ameri had got back by that stage to hastily clear his goalbound prod off the line.
Australian attacker Brett Holman twice threatened the visitors' defence thereafter, with his second drive - a brisk snap-shot from Ambar's right-wing delivery - forcing a smart stop out of Shambieh.
Yaqoob duly sent a snatched shot across the face of Al Shaji's goal at the other end before a contentious moment arrived on the stroke of half-time.
Rodrigo Pimpao seemed to be bearing down on Shambieh in the Nasr goal when he appeared to be tripped by Al Ameri. The referee didn't award anything nonetheless, much to the evident frustration of Brazilian boss Paulo Comelli in the home dugout.
Comelli's mood won't have improved nine minutes after the restart, when Nasr took the lead with relative ease.
Nilmar was afforded time and space to thread through an incisive pass and Ibrahim ran on to bury it clinically past Al Shaji and low into the bottom right-hand corner.
Emirates soon restored parity nevertheless as, just four minutes later, Ambar drew his side level in sensational style.
Fed the ball by Holman, there didn't appear too much on so he took aim from the edge of the box and hit the target with a swerving strike that deceived Shambieh and went in off the underside of the crossbar.
Jires Kembo-Ekoko should have restored Nasr's advantage when he could only drill Ahmed Ibrahim's through ball straight at Al Shaji with 13 minutes left on the clock.
He was left to rue that miss late on too as Pimpao poked home to snatch a dramatic win for Emirates.
alex@khaleejtimes.com
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