JEDDAH, 12 December 2006 — Al-Ahli of Saudi Arabia had a super day. It was just super in more than one way — they turned in an all-round superlative and cohesive display, notched up a super hat trick and provided super joy to their legion fans as they thumped Al-Qadisiya of Kuwait 6-0.

The one-sided Group A Arab Champions League (ALC) match at Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal Stadium proved to be a fans’ day out yesterday with a veritable goal feast being served by the host team. And the fans devoured the fanfare with an appetite that was nearly insatiable.

Ahli forced the Kuwaiti team to retreat to their midfield and put on the defensive for the majority of the game as the visitors suffered one of their worst defeat in their history. But for some brave defending and some unlucky misses the tennis score could have nearly doubled.

Ahli fans had turned up in large numbers to the stadium well ahead of time.

And they were treated to a game of their lifetime. Ahli players, who had pledged to take full points from this encounter, delivered on their promise. But what warmed the cockles of their hearts was the way the team played. Their spectacular performance — which had precision passing, stout defending and incisive midfield control that saw some brilliant switches in plan and mode of attack — will surely not bode well to other teams. And the message was stark.

In a poll by Ahli club of their fans of the outcome of yesterday’s match, 83 percent of Ahli fans had predicted the win, 5 percent felt that Ahli would lose and 12 percent predicted a draw. And the team vindicated the aspirations of the majority of their fans.

From the word go, Ahli dominated though they took the first quarter to really settle down. Malek Muaz was the star of the match scoring four goals for Ahli.

Ahli drew first blood from Mutaz Al-Mousa in the 29th minute. A free kick by Hussein Abdul Ghani was put on Al-Mousa’s path by the goalkeeper’s hasty clearance and Al-Mousa made no mistake — a near replica of Ahli’s first goal against Hilal last week. Al-Mousa was tackled inside the penalty box and Khaled Badra converted from the spot.

Then in the 42nd minute Muaz, who received the ball inside the penalty box, floated the ball over a defender and past the keeper to put Ahli 3-0 up at the break.

Ahli striker Medoraj nearly scored the fourth goal in the 63rd minute when he shot a nice ball but hit the right side post. But in 75th minute, Muaz, who received a cross from the star right-winger Ali Al-Abdali, headed true. Muaz completed the trick in the 83rd minute from a header from Hussein Abdul Ghani. And in the 88TH minute added another.

In the same group, El Zamalek of Egypt drew 2-2 against CA Bordj Bou Arreridj of Algeria in Cairo. This gave Ahli the first position of the group.

Al-Nasr will host ES Setif of Algeria in first leg match in Riyadh at Prince Faisal ibn Fahd Stadium in Riyadh today in Group-B match.