Qassim's late goal saves Al Ahli &nbsp; <img border="0" src="http://www.persianleague.com/images/pic.gif" width="13" height="11">

Action from the match between Al Wasl and Al Ahli. ©Gulf News

Al Wasl 2 Al Ahli 2
Al Shaab 0 Dubai  1

Gulf News - Al Ahli dropped to the third place in the league table after they were held to a 2-2 draw by Al Wasl at the latter's stadium in Zaabil in a tough match full of action, excitement and enthusiasm.

Al Wasl led 2-1 and were on their way to score first win, until the last two minutes when Al Ahli defender Mohammed Qassim hit the equaliser and saved the day for Al Ahli.

Al Ahli played with ten men after the referee showed the red card to defender Abdullah Shah in the 53rd minute following a harsh tackle on Al Wasl wingback Munzir Ali.

Al Wasl failed to score their first win in four league matches. They have two points from two draws. Al Ahli with eight points are in the third place. They were sharing the top spot with Al Ain last week.

Despite squandering the win in the last minutes, Al Wasl under new coach UAE Khalifa Mubarak showed excellent performance which satisfied their supporters who were not happy with the result.

They dominated the match from the word go. Good defending by Abdullah Issa, Mohammed Obaid and Munzir ensured that Al Ahli striker Ali Karimi did not get any chance to threaten their goalkeeper.

Tariq Hasan lost a good chance to open the score for Al Wasl in the ninth minute when Kavianpour crossed from the left.

Tariq was confounded infront of the goal and Al Ahli defence cleared it away. After four minutes Tariq Darwish header went just near the Al Ahli upright. Al Ahli responded with Laffwi header which went sailing over the bar from close range in 17 minute.

The Wasl midfielders Ali Issa, Kavianpour, Khalid Darwish and Tariq Darwish did a very good job by taking control of the most important area in the field. They denied Al Ahli midfielders room to build attacks or breaking through.

However Al Wasl keeper Ahmed Salim created a serious mistake in the 35th minute when Ali Karimi tried to seize the ball from him following a short pass by Salim. But the Al Wasl custodian grabbed it again before Karimi.

Despite the Al Wasl dominance, Al Ahli scored against the run of play when Ali Karimi sent a high ball to Ahmed Shah whose header beat Ahmed Salim to his right six minutes before the break. Al Wasl attacked and a Tariq Darwish cracker was tipped to the corner by Al Ahli keeper Ali Saeed.

After just 70 seconds of resumption, Kavianpour leveled for Al Wasl from the spot when Khalid Shah Dad of Al Ahli pushed Tariq inside the box.

The Iranian midfielder made no mistake in converting the spot kick. Al Ahli defence were affected by the sending off of Abdullah Shah.

The Al Ahli coach Srecko took out Laffwi and brought in Hamada to play right wingback and Jasim Akbar to play central defender in place of Abdullah Shah.

Al Ahli's Hasan Ibrahim lost a good chance when he was put through with only the Al Wasl keeper to beat. But his shot went straight to Salim's hands.

Farhad Majiedi scored Al Wasl's second goal in the 71st minute. Majiedi benefited from Al Ahli keeper's error when he failed to catch Khalid Darwish high cross.

Majiedi jumped to head the ball but found it on the ground infront of him. He, without hesitation, shot into the empty net.

Al Ahli attacked to level and in the process Ali Karimi was fouled two times inside the penalty area. In the first he was brought down by Al Wasl custodian and in the second a rough tackle by Al Wasl defender.

On the first occasion, the referee said no penalty kick despite Karimi's protest where he got a yellow card.

On the second occasion, he awarded a foulkick outside the box. The equaliser came in the 88th minute from the foul kick. Hasan Abbas's header beat Al Wasl defenders who thought Qassim was offside. Qassim advanced and placed the ball to the left of a hapless Ahmed Salim.

Dubai club jumped to the second place in the league standing after they defeated Al Shaab 1-0 in the match held at Khalid bin Mohammed stadium in Sharjah.

Chilean striker Cristian Montecinos scored the all important goal in the 75th minute. Dubai club have now nine points in the second place and Al Shaab dropped to seventh with five points.