Dubai : Sharjah coach Manuel Cajuda bemoaned the 2010/11 Etisalat Pro League season starting mid-Ramadan, despite the fact that his fasting players were still able to comfortably outplay Ittihad Kalba 3-0 in their opening game at Al Nasr Club in Oud Mehta on Friday night.

"It's difficult if they're [the players] not eating all day. A player will lose three to four kilos a game, there's 80 per cent water and mineral loss in a match," said Cajuda.

"It would have been good for the game, spectators and teams if our opening two games were moved to a day outside Ramadan."

His post-match complaints were odd seeing as none of his eleven looked to be suffering from the ill effects of fasting during the 3-0 trouncing in the Sharjah emirate derby.

Dour first half

After a dour first half, lit up only by three missed one-on-one opportunities by Kalba, Sharjah came out stronger in the second half.

Marcelo converted Robinho's cross on 49 minutes with an unmarked header, nine minutes later Robinho put another cross across the box for Marcelo to dummy to Humaid Abdullah who fumbled the ball into the bottom right. Then on 94 minutes Marcelo netted a curving freekick with the last touch of the game to make it three.

The game was played at a neutral venue in front of a measly 678 people because of a pitch re-turfing issue at Kalba's stadium.

But Kalba coach Ednaldo Patricio didn't think that losing his home advantage made any difference. "When you're in the first division you must be able to play anywhere.

"The first half we started very good, we passed well and were very organised. We had many chances, three clear opportunities, but we didn't score. The second half we didn't play as before, they had three chances and scored. We have to congratulate Sharjah they took their chances very well," said Patricio.

The Kalba coach said the goal just minutes into the second half was a shock his players didn't have time to respond to and added that in time his team would improve, particularly ahead of their next match with defending champions Al Wahda.

"We only closed the foreign players three days ago and one local player joined this week. We need more time together but I believe we will get better," said Patricio.