Sow’s late winner keeps Al Ahli in title-hunt

Abu Dhabi: Al Ahli’s Brazilian forward Ciel’s return to the Sharjah venue, where he sustained a double fracture of the ankle at the start of the 2014-15 campaign, ended on a high in Arabian Gulf League (AGL) on Saturday night.

It looked as if Sharjah were going to steal a hard-fought goalless draw in the 18th round of the Arabian Gulf League to dent Al Ahli’s surge towards the top of the leader board. Minutes into the stoppage time, Ciel played a one-two with Moussa Sow and then turned sharply to sneak in a cross from the tightest of angles for the latter to nod home.

The goal left Sharjah stunned but there were wild celebrations in the Al Ahli camp after a 1-0 win that saw coach Cosmin Olaroiu get the marching orders for losing his cool towards the latter part of the contest.

Sharjah, battling to stay out of the relegation zone, should be credited for the spirit they showed in playing the role of a spoiler to perfection for 90 minutes.

With this result, Al Ahli are now two points adrift of league leaders Al Ain, who are on 46 points while Sharjah, with 18 points are one clear of Al Dhafra, who are staring at relegation.

The 18th round also saw Al Wasl move on to the 30-point mark with a 2-0 victory over bottom side Al Shaab, riding on a brace of goals from Fabio de Lima. The Brazilian striker’s League tally has swelled to 12 goals for the season so far and Al Wasl stay fourth and are just two points away from the top three. Al Shaab, on the other hand, continue to occupy the bottom spot in the table with a mere six points.

Arabian Gulf League top scorer Sebastian Tagliabue’s solitary goal proved enough for Al Wahda to beat Al Nasr, who were looking to enhance their chances of getting close to second-placed Al Ahli. The win allowed The Clarets to temporarily occupy the fourth place with 29 points for a day before being overtaken over by Al Wasl.

However, the Al Wahda-Al Nasr result has allowed second-placed Al Ahli to pull away to a healthy 12 points lead. Defending champions Al Ain, who also stole a late goal through Ismail Ahmed against Dibba last week, have a 14 points edge over third-placed Al Nasr.

Standings

RK TEAM P W D L GS GD PTS

1 Al Ain 18 15 1 2 39 25 46

2 Al Ahli 18 14 2 2 42 26 44

3 Al Nasr 18 9 5 4 34 9 32

4 Al Wasl 18 9 3 6 29 23 6 30

5 Al Wahda 18 9 2 7 30 9 29

6 Bani Yas 17 6 7 4 27 23 4 25

7 Al Shabab 17 6 5 6 20 19 1 23

8 Dibba 18 6 3 9 25 32 7 21

9 Al Jazira 17 5 4 8 32 33 1 19

10 Fujairah 18 5 4 9 31 41 10 19