Abu Dhabi: Nine-man Al Ain were held to a 3-3 draw by bottom-placed Sharjah in an absorbing Arabian Gulf League fixture at the Hazza Bin Zayed Stadium in Al Ain on Saturday.
The result leaves Al Ain tied on 14 points with leaders Al Wasl, while Sharjah, who are yet to register a win, have three points following their third draw under new boss Abdul Aziz Al Anbari. Al Wahda, having split points with Shabab Al Ahli Dubai in a goalless draw, are third with 13 points while the latter are in fourth with 11 points.
Clearly, it was a bitter pill for Al Ain coach Zoran Mamic to swallow and he was seen rushing on to the turf and giving referee Yahya Al Mulla a mouthful after the contest.
Mamic was clearly upset with a penalty given in injury time that sealed a difficult day for his side.
“I do not know any logical reason for Douglas to get that yellow card in the game. He [referee] also showed two cards to Berg Marcus. Between Shaheen Abdul Rahman and Majid Surour, there were at least 10 fouls, but they were booked only once. Personally, I cannot imagine how such things would happen. If I would have been in the referee’s position, I would feel ashamed but perhaps he did not know the nature of his work,” fumed Mamic, who dismissed suggestions he risked being reprimanded for his actions.
“Why am I being punished, and I’m telling the truth? The refereeing was bad and that’s the reality.”
In an ill-tempered contest, Eisa Ahmad put Sharjah in the lead in the 26th minute after Al Ain goalkeeper Khalid Eisa misread a cross from the former. The hosts, however, didn’t allow the advantage to last long and the equaliser came through Amer Abdul Rahman, who curled in a shot from inside the box after Brazilian Caio’s shot following a corner had ricocheted off Swedish recruit Marcus Berg.
The hosts were in trouble just before the breather as they lost defender Mohannad Salem, captaining the side on the night, after he was shown a red card following a poor tackle on Sharjah striker Welliton Soares.
After the change of ends, Sharjah seized the advantage again after a wayward pass from Al Ain’s Rayan Yaslam landed at the feet off Soares, who squared it for Omar Juma to blast home.
Four minutes later, Sharjah goalkeeper Ahmad Juma’s butter-fingers allowed a lob from Japanese recruit Tsukasa Shiotani to settle into the net, making it 2-2. With Berg scoring five minutes from time, the hosts were very much in the driver’s seat.
Berg was in the spotlight immediately afterwards that but this time for all the wrong reasons. A poor tackle from behind on Sharjah’s Vander Viera saw Berg being given marching orders following his second yellow.
With Al Ain down to ten men, Sharjah pressed hard for the equaliser and were rewarded after Douglas went for Ryan McGown instead of the ball in an aerial tussle and the referee pointed to the spot. Viera coolly converted from the spot to ensure a morale-boosting draw for Sharjah.
“No matter what happened to the match, I think my team has made a strong return under the circumstances. It was a meeting which had a number of absentees and the expulsion of two players during the game has hurt us,” said an incensed Mamic, whose team will now face Al Wahda in the next round.
Sharjah defender Eisa Ahmad expressed delight with his team’s showing. “This was good game for us and congrats to team for getting a favourable result towards the end. It was a collective effort as we were not in a good situation but we ended it well. We remained positive all the way through.”
Ajman, too, registered a 3-1 victory over Emirates on Saturday at the Rashid Bin Saeed Stadium to make amends for their poor start to the season.
Ajman are currently ninth in the table with six points while Emirates remain on tenth with four. Meanwhile, Al Nasr stayed in fifth place with ten points after their latest win, while Al Jazira are in the top six after a win that takes them to eight points.
Standings
RK TEAM P W D L GS GA GD PTS
1 Al Wasl 6 4 2 0 12 7 5 14
2 Al Ain 6 4 2 0 15 8 7 14
3 Al Wahda 6 4 1 1 14 5 9 13
4 Shabab AlAhli 6 3 2 1 12 4 8 11
5 Al Nasr 6 3 1 2 10 7 3 10
6 Al Jazira 6 2 2 2 9 10 -1 8
7 Dibba 6 2 1 3 7 12 -5 7
8 Al Dhafra 6 1 3 2 10 11 -1 6
9 Ajman 6 2 0 4 8 12 -4 6
10 Emirates 6 1 1 4 10 15 -5 4
11 Hatta 6 1 0 5 7 19 -12 3
12 Sharjah 6 0 3 3 6 10 -4 3
