Gyan hits brace in 4-0 win for champions

Al Ain: After winning the Etisalat Pro League almost a month ago, and with three rounds of action left, Al Ain completed the formalities with a 4-0 win over Ajman in front of a packed Tahnoun Bin Mohammad Stadium yesterday.

Ghana international Asamoah Gyan helped himself to two goals as the former Asian club champions came up with a better second half display to outclass Ajman 4-0. Gyan finished with 21 goals and unless Andre Senghor of Baniyas scores half-a-dozen goals in today's game against the relegated Sharjah, the Ghana star will pick up the top scorer's award.

Lucky

The fans, having taken up every available spot in the stadium in Al Qattara, which the Al Ain players feel is more lucky than their new venue, purple was the colour and ‘10' the number which greeted everyone as they approached the garden city.

It was Al Ain's 10th League victory, the most by any UAE club with Al Wasl second with seven titles, and the stadium as well as the city erupted into celebrations which are expected to go on until the early hours of the morning.

Though Ajman dominated and saw more of the goalmouth action, the champions struck in the 33rd minute through Ignacio Scocco. He sent Gyan through with a brilliant forward pass and the latter pulled the ball back for Scocco to finish off the move in style.

Karim Kerkar stunned the Al Ain fans when he shot from his own half after seeing Al Ain goalkeeper Waleed Salem out of his charge but the ball hit the crossbar and went out.

Efforts

That chance came before Al Ain's opener and after conceding the goal; Ajman's Abdullah Almaghy and Hassan Matouk saw their efforts saved by Salem.

However after the break Omar Abdul Rahman dribbled his way into the box and then passed to Gyan who tapped home for the second goal in the 63rd minute.

Four minutes later, the highly skilled Omar scored when he made no mistake with a rebound and with ten minutes left again did the spadework for Gyan to shoot his second and ensure Al Ain celebrated in style.