Abu Dhabi: Al Ain coach Zlatko Dalic said his side had taken a significant step forward as they finally ended Arabian Gulf League leaders Al Wahda’s dream run with an authoritative 4-0 drubbing at the Hazza Bin Zayed Stadium late on Wednesday.
Miroslav Stoch scored a brace for Al Ain after Ibrahim Diaky and Fares Juma had struck a goal apiece.
“I’m very happy with the great result. We played the game in the absence of a number of key players, but the replacements were up to the challenge,” said an elated Dalic.
“They took responsibility and this is a big win that will give the players the confidence needed. We went with the objective of winning but didn’t expect the kind of result we achieved in the end, particularly when we didn’t have five to six key players.”
The coach reiterated that his side now has to keep the momentum going in the matches ahead.
“Winning one game is not our long-term objective. Our ambition is to win the league, and for this reason we need to keep working harder and continue to achieve good results,” said the Croatian, whose side meet Bani Yas next.
Al Ain, having played two matches less than most of their rivals, are in fifth spot with 20 points from 11 matches.
Al Wahda coach Jose Peseiro admitted nothing went right for his team and they were completely outplayed.
“Al Ain were good and deserved to win. Our defence was not good and we didn’t appear the way we wanted to appear, the way we usually are,” said Peseiro.
“Congratulations to Al Ain, as they were better. We will evaluate and try to rectify the mistakes we made in the match. I think we had a remarkable run of being undefeated in 20 league games and this kind of setback was bound to happen. We can only get back and continue with our team-building exercise.”
Week 11 of the league campaign also saw another upset as Al Jazira suffered a 2-1 defeat at home to Sharjah. A win would have propelled the Abu Dhabi side on top of the table, but now they are third behind Al Wahda and Al Shabab.
Defending Champions Al Ahli ended their winless streak by beating bottom club Kalba 2-0 at home with goals from Salmeen Khamis and Basheer Saeed.
Al Nasr won their home match against Emirates 3-0.
