Tournament leading scorer Ali Mabkhout netted a second half penalty as the United Arab Emirates claimed third place at the AFC Asian Cup Australia 2015 after edging out former champions Iraq 3-2 in a thrilling contest at Newcastle Stadium on Friday.

Captain Ahmed Khalil opened the scoring for the UAE after 16 minutes only for Waleed Salim and Amjed Kalaf to turn the contest in favour of 2007 champions Iraq before half-time.

But after Khalil levelled the entertaining contest at the start of the second half with his fourth of the campaign, Mabkhout coolly netted his fifth just before the hour mark after Iraq's Ahmed Ibrahim had been sent-off to hand the 1996 finalists their second-best finish at the AFC Asian Cup.

With both coaches retaining the majority of their first team and only making minor changes to their starting line-ups following their semi-final defeats earlier in the week, it was the UAE's exciting front three which helped Mahdi Ali's side open the scoring as Mabkhout freed Omar Abdulrahman following a swift counterattack and Khalil was on hand to produce a first-time finish inside the penalty area from the perfectly weighted through ball.

Iraq, though, were almost back on level terms just four minutes later as Younus Mahmood's follow-up was acrobatically tipped over the crossbar by substitute UAE goalkeeper Khalid Eisa after Majed Hassan's attempted sliding clearance on the edge of the penalty area had bounced back off the woodwork following a deflection off the veteran striker.

But Eisa was given no chance after 28 minutes as Salim was found inside the area by Kalaf and the full-back's strike crucially deflected off Khamis Esmaeel to beat the UAE goalkeeper high at his near post.

And Eisa was again beaten three minutes before half-time as the UAE custodian could only parry a low rasping drive from Ahmed Yasin from just outside the area and Kalaf was first to react to volley home from 10 yards.

Iraq maintained their pressure at the start of the second half and came close to extending their advantage less than a minute after the restart as Mahmood scuffed wide from inside the area with only Eisa to beat from Yaser Kasim's pass.

The miss, though, proved costly for Iraq as just six minutes later Khalil beat the offside trap from Abdulrahman's superb chipped ball forward, and after taking one touch to evade onrushing goalkeeper Mohammed Hamed, the striker rolled the ball into the empty net.

And three minutes before the hour mark the UAE completed the comeback as Ibrahim was sent-off after hauling down Mabkhout inside the area following a mistake by goalkeeper Hamed and the striker picked himself up to coolly beat the Iraq custodian from the resulting penalty to move one goal clear of Jordan's Hamza Al Dardour at the top of the goalscoring chart.

The UAE came close to extending their lead with 15 minutes remaining as substitute Walid Abbas headed against the foot of the back post from Abdulrahman's deep corner.

And despite Iraq pressing forward in the closing stages, the UAE held on to claim third place at the AFC Asian Cup for the first time having lost to China on penalties at the same stage in 1992.

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