Libya kicked off its commitments in the 9th Arab Cup in Saudi Arabia Saturday with a 3-1 victory over Yemen in Group B, but made hard work of its victory and also had ended up playing with only 10 man for the last 30 minutes.

Contrary to expectations Libya fielded the national team instead of the Under 21 side and they proved much too strong for their opponents.

Libya started well and after 17 minutes went ahead when Ahmed Sa'ad converted a penalty. However, despite their superiority the Libyans failed to add to their tally by the end of the first half.

However, they once again went on the attack on the change-over and eight minutes into the session they redoubled the advantage thanks to an Ali Salama goal and many of the players thought they were home an dry by then.

Yemen came back into the game but on 58 minutes missed a golden opportunity to reduce the arrears when they missed from a penalty taken by Ala Alsasi.

Libya proved to be their own worst enemy three minutes later when Hamad Hanesh Alzoe was sent off for a second yellow card.

Yemen took advantage of their numerical superiority and got back into the game by scoring through Ala Alsasi who made up for his earlier mistake from the spot kick by scoring.

But Libya were not to be denied and they made doubly certain with the third goal scored by Mohamed Algoail two minutes from time.

IN the other Group B match, Morocco registered a comfortable 4-0 victory over Bahrain with a goal in the first half by Brahim el-Bahri on 16 minutes, and three more in a short spell towards the last part of the match through Yassine Salhi in the 78th minute, a Walid al-Hayam own goal, and Abdessalam Benyelloun four minutes into stoppage time.

The tournament resumes Sunday when the four teams in Group C are called into action. Iraq face Lebanon, while Egypt meet Sudan.