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AFC - Zob Ahan coach Mansour Ebrahimzadeh hailed the composure shown by his squad as the 2010 AFC Champions League quarter-finalists overcame the second-half sending off of skipper Mehdi Rejabzadeh to defeat Peykan 2-1 in their 2010/11 Iran Pro League season opener.

Midfielder Mohammadreza Khaltbari, who netted three times in Zob Ahan’s run to the last eight of this year’s ACL, including the winners against Bunyodkor and former champions Al Ittihad, opened the scoring in the 13th before restoring the home side’s lead in the 35th minute just three minutes after Peykan had levelled through Alireza Abbasfard.

Zob Ahan had to play out the last 21 minutes of the match with ten men after veteran forward Rejabzadeh received his marching orders but the Esfahan side ensured Peykan were unable to make their numerical advantage count.

“The first match of any tournament is always difficult so we are very happy to have won the game,” Ebrahimzadeh told reporters after the match.

“We dominated first hour of the game but the sending off of Rajabzadeh gave our opponents the chance to put pressure on us.

“However, the maturity of our players, and the substitutions that we made, helped us overcome this situation.

“It’s a disadvantage for a team in the long run of a tournament to collect too many yellow or red cards at the first steps of the competition and I will tell my players to be more cautious.

“Rajabzadeh was battling on the pitch and played with full commitment but his effort cost us a red card.”
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