3/12/2008
the-afc.com

ESFAHAN – Al Ittihad Aleppo stunned last year's beaten AFC Champions League finalists Sepahan with a 2-0 win over the Iranian side in Group A action at the Foolad Shahr Stadium on Wednesday.

The Syrians successfully withstood a second-half barrage by Jorvan Vieira's side to win the tie after Jesus Gomez scored the opener following the expulsion of Sepahan's Mohsen Bengar for hauling down Yahia Al Rached as he bore down on goal.

Sepahan pushed throughout the second half for the equaliser, but the Hazfi Cup winners were caught off guard with three minutes remaining when Abdulfatah Al Agha doubled Al Ittihad's lead, sealing the three points in the process.

Al Ittihad had unhappy memories of their last meeting with the Iranian side, a 5-0 home loss in Aleppo last May, but they put that game to rest with a memorable result in Esfahan.

The visitors took control of midfield in the early stages although the game turned on an incident in the 19th minute when Al Rached received a long ball from the back and ran in on goal before being fouled by Bengar as he was about to enter the penalty box.

Australian referee Ben Williams had no hesitation in giving the Sepahan defender his marching orders and from the resulting free kick, Venezuelan striker Gomez extracted full revenge, firing a right-footed shot past Sepahan goalkeeper Abbas Mohammadi.

Sepahan nearly responded in the 28th minute with a free kick taken by Hossein Kazemi that went over the crossbar.

Just before the break, Iraqi midfielder Abdul Wahab Abolheil fired in a long range effort which skimmed off the ground and rebounded off the body of goalkeeper Mahmoud Karkar before being cleared by the Al Ittihad defence.

He then had another chance in stoppage time with a shot that Karkar managed to punch away.

Despite being a man down, Sepahan continued to attack in the second half with Al Ittihad content to sit back and defend their lead.

Abolheil and Iraqi compatriot Emad Mohamad both missed good chances to level the score before the visitors put the match away three minutes from time as Al Agha picked up the ball in his own half and ran all the way into the Sepahan box before firing a powerful shot past Mohammadi.

Sepahan thought that they had pulled back a consolation goal in the first minute of stoppage time when Emad put the ball past Karkar but the effort was ruled out for offside.