Branko Ivankovic rues missed chances in Al Wahda draw

Dubai: Al Wahda coach Branko Ivankovic was left ruing his strikers’ form after Al Wahda’s 1-1 draw against Al Wasl on Friday night left them facing the prospect of missing out on next season’s AFC Champions League.

Marcelinho earned the Abu Dhabi club a point when he cancelled out visitors Al Wasl’s opening goal, which came courtesy of Fahad Hadeed. But that left Al Wahda in sixth place in the Etisalat Pro-League ahead of Saturday’s matches, with only the top four qualifying for the continent’s premier club competition.

“We did manage to create a lot of chances that we should have scored. But we missed and the team started showing a bit of nervousness and that allowed Al Wasl to come back into the match,” Croatian Ivankovic said.

“We should have won as that could have given us an opportunity to join the teams at the top of the table.”

Al Wasl opened the scoring in the 12th minute when Hadeed headed in an Emiliano Alfaro cross, but the hosts restored parity five minutes from half-time as Marcelinho poked home from close range.

Elsewhere, Dubai Club got back to winning ways as they secured a 1-0 home win over struggling Dibba Al Fujairah thanks to a 43rd-minute strike from ex-Al Ain striker Rami Yaslam.

But ever-improving Al Dhafra and relegation-threatened Al Shaab secured the biggest wins on Friday as they took maximum points against Ajman and Ittihad Kalba respectively.

Al Dhafra spanked Ajman 3-0 thanks to first half goals from Makhete Diop (2) and Hazza Salem. Al Dhafra moved up to eighth place as Ajman slipped to 11th.

Former Dubai player Michael N’dri set up one and scored the other as Al Shaab broke their losing streak with a 2-1 win over bottom side Kalba.