Australia win exciting encounter against Oman.

Byline: Sunil K. VaidyaBureau Chief

Muscat A firecracker thrown on the pitch and frayed tempers in the dying minutes marred an otherwise exciting Asian Cup qualifier that 10-man Australia won 2-1 last night at the Sultan Qaboos Sports complex at Baushar.

The match that saw a heated exchange of words between Oman's Khalifa Aiyel and Australian substitute Patric Kisnorbo.

In the other incident, a firecracker thrown right in the middle of the turf during the fag end of the game could have injured at least four players.

Although a man short for more than 75 minutes, the Aussies battled with a steely resolve to clinch a 82nd minute winner through Brett Emerton. Before the Aussies scored the winner, Oman missed more than half a dozen chances, especially in the second half.

Oman scored against the run of the play in the 15th minute when Imad Al Hosni was brought down in the box that also reduced the Australians to ten men when referee Sun Baojie gave Rhys Williams themarching orders.

The resultant penalty taken by Imad was parried by Mark Schwarzer, but Khalifa Ayel was quick to pounce on the rebound to give Oman a 1-0 lead.

Shortlived joy

But Oman's joy was short-lived as Australia's central midfielder Luke Wilkshire scored the equaliser against the run of play.

Omani coach Claude Le Roy's boys, however, had started in earnest with well-coordinated attacks as the Aussies sent a wrong signal with a lone striker in veteran Harry Kewell.

Oman played with 4-4-2 combination, but the absence of Ahmad Mubarak aeKanu' was felt at the start when the twin strike force of Imad Al Hosni and Hassan Rabea Al Hosni missed his defence splitting passes.

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