BEIRUT: Lebanon came within minutes of pulling off another shock victory against Kuwait Tuesday, conceding late to a 2-2 draw at Cite Sportive.

Lebanon drew with Kuwait 2-2 Tuesday in the third game of group B of the qualifying stages of the World Cup 2014.

Lebanon has played already two of its matches in the third round of the qualifying stages, losing to South Korea 6-0 and defeating the UAE 3-1.

Around 40,000 fans showed up to support Lebanon after their surprise win over the UAE a month ago. While their presense was a significant boost to the players, bad behavior – mostly related to playing with fireworks – forced the referee into stopping the game for six minutes.

Ahed forward Hassan Maatouk gave Lebanon the lead after a quarter of an hour, exchanging passes with Mohammad Ghaddar before sweeping home a curling shot into the far corner from 10 yards. Lebanon enjoyed the rest of the first half as Roda Antar strode around the field, keeping the hosts on top.

Five minutes into the second half Yousef Naser nearly put the scores on level terms but Samad was able to squeeze the ball against the cross bar before Mohammad Baquir Younis put the ball out for a corner.

Moments later Kuwait were level, Mesad Nada arriving late at the far post to head in from the resulting corner.

Going into the final minutes Akram Moghrabi earned a penalty that Maatouk calmly dispatched before Younis put the ball into his own net immediately after.