Al Nasr happy to draw with Al Wasl

Al Nasr coach Walter Zenga was delighted with the manner in which his side fought back from 2-1 down against Al Wasl to level the Oud Metha Road derby with a 95th penalty by Leo Lima, on Friday night at Zabeel Stadium. Rodrigo Vergilio scored a surprise opener for Al Nasr on six minutes when, appearing to be boxed in by Mariano Donda and Wahid Esmail, he toe-poked a dead ball into the bottom left past an unawares Majid Nasser from the edge of the area. Al Wasl equalised on 42 minutes when a Donda shot took a cruel deflection off Hilal Saeed leaving the keeper for dead, to the delight of the Zabeel club's faithful, ending the half tied one apiece. On 59 minutes, Al Wasl went ahead when Donda's freekick found the head of Darwish Ahmad, but Leo Lima's penalty deep into stoppage time secured the draw as he converted after Fahd Masoud's foul inside the box on Younus Abdullah. ‘Tough game' Zenga said: "We started and finished well, but in the middle suffered Al Wasl's dominance. The players never lived outside the game and kept their spirit until the last second. "Having come into the game with four wins in a row, we knew this would be a tough derby game against a team with good players and a great coach. The draw is a great result for us." Speaking of their slow start in the first three games of the season, which has turned into an unbeaten run of five, Zenga, whose job had been on the line, said: "The mentality has changed inside the locker room and inside the players. "In our first few matches, we were going 2-0 down and had the mentality of not wanting to concede any more; now we want to get back into games. They understand you make your own luck through hard work now. We are training double sessions and you can see the difference, because we've picked up points in the last five games. But you cannot say the mentality is now okay, you can't say that until the end of the season." ‘Excessive' Maradona said: "I want to congratulate my team; although it wasn't the preferred result, we were able to come back quickly without losing focus. In the second half we were in total control. Penalties in the last minute of a game happen sometimes. "I'm sad we couldn't come out of this with three points, but I'm happy with the draw, especially against a strong side like Al Nasr with an experienced coach such as Walter Zenga. "As far as Fahd Masoud giving away a penalty, this is quite normal; it happens in football. It could have happened to anyone. When your opponent is losing five minutes to go they play long balls and wish for the best. "Five minutes extra time was definitely a bit excessive, I spoke to the fourth official, and he said ‘please don't make me add another two minutes'. That would have been a third half of football," he said.