Ammon News - AMMONNEWS - Three late goals all but sealed Al Wehdat's passage to the AFC Cup semi-finals after they thrashed 10-man Duhok 5-1 at King Abdullah International Stadium.

Two goals each from Hasan Abdel-Fattah and Mahmoud Shelbaieh and one from Abdallah Deeb piled on the misery for Duhok, who also had Khaled Musher sent off for deliberate handball in the first-half.

The Jordanians were strong favourites to win, yet it was the Iraqi team that drew first blood with Husseinn Kareem scoring in the 14th minute.

Al Wehdat had been on top until that moment but a long ball was not dealt with by their defence and Kareem stole in to steer the ball past the home goalkeeper. The lead was just what the Iraqis had wanted and after the goal they sat back, content to let the Jordanians dominate and hit them on the counter.

The match then turned on a key moment when defender Musher prevented a goalbound shot from going in with his hand and was immediately sent off.

Shelbaieh stepped up to take the penalty but missed, giving the Iraqi team hope they could still hold on to an unlikely victory.

The Jordanians continued to squander chances until the 31st minute when a second handball in the penalty area, this time by Burhan Sahyouni, resulted in another penalty. This time, Abdel-Fattah calmly slotted the ball away to level the tie.

In the second-half, Al Wehdat continued to dominate with Duhok defending deeper and deeper.

However the second goal continued to elude the Jordanians until Wehdat coach Mohammed Kwid made two changes, bringing on Abdallah Deeb and Monther Abu Amara to improve their attacking options.

Abdallah Deeb had been on the field only a few minutes before he exchanged passes with Amer Deeb and found space in front of goal to finish calmly.

With the wind in their sails the Jordanian team continued to push Duhok back. Their persistence paid dividends in the 85th minute when Shelbaieh and Abu Amara exchanged passes and the former smashed the ball past the keeper.

Four minutes later, Abel-Fattah capitalised on a good cross by Amer Deeb to net the fourth goal before Shelbaieh put the icing on the cake three minutes into stoppage-time following Abu Amara's through ball.


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