Fanja beat Al-Nassr 3:1 in the Group Stage of the FA Cup on Thursday evening. The hosts had lost 2:0 to the visitors on their previous encounter in August, and here they reversed the result at home. Four goals fell in the match, with the final tally settling after the visitors added a consolation strike late on.
The opening goal came in the thirty-ninth minute, followed by a second before half-time in the forty-fifth minute plus five. Al-Nassr pulled one back in the sixtieth minute, and Fanja sealed the win with an eighty-eighth minute strike. The flow of the game shifted after the break, with the hosts going for the jugular and finding their reward.
Fanja had not won since their draw with Sur on 24 August, picking up just one point from their previous five matches. They had dropped points against Smail, lost to Sohar and Dhofar, and suffered that earlier defeat to Al-Nassr. This result broke a run that had seen them keep their side in it only by avoiding further losses.
Al-Nassr arrived with better momentum, having won three of their last four games before the draw with Bahla. They had beaten Saham, Dhofar, and Al-Musanna in that stretch, and the history between them added an edge to this fixture. The visitors had nothing to lose going forward, but Fanja changed shape at the break and worked the channels more effectively.
The victory lifted Fanja off the bottom of the standings and put pressure on the leaders. Al-Nassr dropped points after their recent winning streak, and the gap at the top tightened. Three points in hand now gives Fanja something to build on after a difficult spell.
