BAHRAIN notched a resounding, come-from-behind 3-2 victory over Lebanon last night to make a winning start to their campaign in the sixth West Asian Football Federation (WAFF) Women’s Championship, being held at the Muharraq Club stadium in Arad.
Hessa Isa scored twice in the second half to add to teammate Phoebe Licence’s first goal for the hosts to claim the win.
The Lebanese had earlier opened the scoring through Haneen Tamim in the 58th minute.
Phoebe was able to level the proceedings in the 69th to breathe life back to the Bahraini contingent. Teammate and midfield star Reem Al Hashmi sent a precise short cross from the left of the box and Phoebe made no mistake with her header.
Just nine minutes later, Bahrain went in front with a similar play, this time coming from the right of the area. Deena Abdulrahman had the assist, firing in a pass right in the face of goal to a waiting Hessa.
Now in the lead, the Bahrainis were well in control and were attacking fluidly.
Hessa supplied their third goal in the 81st minute. She had received a brilliant through-pass from team captain Yasmine Fayez and after fighting off her defender hit a fine low shot that the opposing keeper had no chance of stopping.
The match appeared to be over but not before the Bahrainis gave away a goal to their rivals in the first minute of stoppage time. After a collision between their goalkeeper and an opposing player, it seemed that play had stopped but the action went on and the ball was hit into the net by Deema Al Kasti.
The result gave Bahrain the full three points from their opening match, while Lebanon came away with none.
Attending the match were Bahrain Football Association Women’s Committee President Shaikha Hessa bint Khalid Al Khalifa and a number of other officials.
In yesterday’s other game on opening day, defending champions Jordan enjoyed a well-deserved 4-1 win over the UAE.
The Emiratis had taken the lead in the 31st minute, but the Jordanians stormed back afterwards to live up to their tag as the contest’s highly favoured side.
Tournament action continues tomorrow with another two games on the cards.
Both the Emiratis and the Lebanese will be looking to bounce back from their opening losses when they go head to head in the first game at 4pm. In the second fixture, Bahrain will be hoping for another win when they take on Palestine at 7pm.
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