BENNY HAPPY WITH THE AWAY POINT

And holding the newly-crowned Gulf Cup champions has certainly put the smile on Indonesia national coach Benny Dolo where he will now have to prepare for a tough match against Australia on 28 Jan 2009.

The tie will be played at the Gelora Bung Karno Stadium in Jakarta.

Indonesia, Oman and Australia are in Group B of the AFC Asian Cup 2011 qualifiers with the other team being Kuwait.

“We knew that Oman is strong and our technical staff were aware of their threat,” added Benny.

“Therefore we adopted a defensive formation as we wanted to get a point from the game.

“The point is great for us, especially as we got it from an away match and in view of the fact our next game will not be easy in such a hard group.”

Although both sides hit the woodwork, Oman enjoyed the better of the chances and was left disappointed that their campaign did not begin with a victory.

Imad Al Hosni hit the post for Oman in the first-half while Hassan Rabea, top-scorer in the Gulf Cup, saw his prolific form desert him as he headed over with the goal at the mercy before seeing another cleared off the line with five minutes to go.