Al Wasl were stretched, made to fight by a spirited Dibba before they nicked a win in their opening Group B fixture of the Arabian Gulf Cup.

The match seemed to be ending in a stalemate before Fabio de Lima headed the winner, three minutes from time, to give The Cheetahs a 3-2 victory, at the Zabeel Stadium on Friday night.

Al Wasl, last year's semifinalists, were up and about, two minutes in, with Hassan Mohammed capitalising on a botched clearance, to put The Cheetahs ahead.

The impressive Fabio de Lima chested down a long cross from the middle and sent a fine curler into the box, from the right. With the Dibba defence failing to clear, Hassan Mohammed then had the easiest of finishes into the net as shot stopper Fahd Mohamed went the wrong way.

Despite that promising start, Al Wasl were to find Dibba a tough nut to crack as the game wore on. The visitors went in search of the equaliser with Mali midfielder Alassane Diallo proving to be a headache for the Al Wasl backline.

Equally impressive was Yaseen Mahmoud, who kept feeding Diallo with perfect crosses from the left.

Dibba's first foray came on 12 minutes but goalkeeper Yousef Al Zaabi charged out and thwarted Diallo after which the defence made the clearance. Later, Diallo was to see his grounder go wide.

After the half hour and just after the drinks break, Yaseen Mahmoud sent a fine cross from the left, but Diallo's dangerous sliding deflection was blocked by Yousef Al Zaabi.

At the other end, Caio made a dangerous foray from the left but couldn't quite pull the trigger because of a packed defence. Al Wasl's new recruit, Anthony Caceres, on loan from Manchester City, had a crack at it but the central midfielder's grounder was collected safely by Fahd Mohamed.

Yaseen Mahmoud then tested Yousef Al Zaabi from a tight angle and although the latter fumbled initially, he had it covered.

With two minutes left in the half, Lima came up with a long ranger, an ambitious one, if anything, which failed to threaten Fahd Mohamed.

Caceres came close with three minutes of time added on in the half but his threatening freekick fell into the safe pair of hands of Fahd Mohamed.

The game ebbed and flowed in the second half and there were chances at either end before Dibba earned a penalty.

Ciel, formerly with Al Shabab, Al Ahli and Ittihad Kalba, was brought down by Al Wasl captain Waheed Ismail and the former made no mistake with the spot kick.

The visitors then took a shock lead with Ciel brilliantly heading home an equally brilliant cross from the right by Driss Fettouhi

The roles were reversed and it was now the hosts who searched desperately for the equaliser. Lima stabbed one wide at the far post, off an Abdalla Saleh cross after which substitute Abdulla Mohd Kazim's fierce grounder just went wide of the post.

The Cheetahs were handed a route back into the game after Caio was brought down by Adel Salem and the former was spot on.

There was to still to be a twist in the tale with Lima heading home an inch perfect freekick from Caceres, with three minutes left on the clock.
GOALS AND CARDS

Al Wasl 3

(Goals: Hassan Mohammed 2, Caio Canedo 70, Fabio de Lima 87. Yellow cards: Ali Hassan Salmin 6, Abdulla Mohd Kazim 75, Anthony Caceres 89)

Dibba 2

(Goals: Ciel  48, 53. Yellow card: Hmaid Rabei 16)

Source: Khaleej Times