Abu Dhabi: Al Ain toyed with bottom-placed Al Ittihad Kalba before handing them a 4-0 humiliating defeat and took a firm grip on the Arabian Gulf League title at their home ground Hazza Bin Zayed Stadium yesterday.

Slovakian medio Miroslav Stoch, French striker Jires Kembo-Ekoko, local sensation Omar Abdul Rahman, Ghanaian ace Asamoah Gyan scored a goal apiece for the winners. With this win, The Boss have swelled their tally to 55 points; 10 points ahead of second-placed Al Jazira, who face a must-win situation against Bani Yas to keep the interest alive in the tournament. If Jazira lose today, Al Ain will be crowned champions with three matches in hand.

The Boss pressed hard right from the word go but Kalba backline somehow defended their fortress in the first quarter. Al Ain’s ace playmaker Stoch kept finding his forward-line up front but somehow their efforts fell short despite maintaining tremendous pressure. Diaky Ibrahim and Kembo-Ekoko missed close scoring opportunities and finally Stoch took the onus on himself to open the account for his side, at the half-hour mark.

A breathtaking long ranger, from way outside the box by Stoch, blasted into the goal leaving Kalba custodian Mohamed Al Tamimi stunned.

Catalyst

That goal acted as a catalyst and Al Ain were simply all over the Kalba territory and goalscoring looked inevitable. Within a matter of minutes, the hosts were leading 2-0 as Kembo-Ekoko showed his magic with the ball. A mesmerising dribbling act inside the box was followed with a left-footed grounder on the turn and once again, Kalba custodian Al Tamimi was a mere spectator.

Immediately after that goal, a free-kick from Kembo-Ekoko was goal-bound but this time, an alert Al Tamimi did well to tip it over the framework. Kembo-Ekoko had an open goal in front in the 39th minute but his full-blooded effort somehow failed to beat an onrushing Al Tamimi.

In the 43rd minute, Kembo-Ekoko, after making a swift run from the centre, found Omar with a back pass and the latter showed his renowned ball controlling abilities to dribble past two defenders to find the goal with a neat placement. The change of ends couldn’t change the fortunes for Kalba and they continued to stay in awe of their much superior rivals. Stoch kept finding Kembo-Ekoko at will and had the latter been a bit clinical, he should have finished with at least a hat-trick. Leading goal scorer of the team, Gyan replaced Omar in the 57th minute and he too, got into the scoring act to complete the tally for the winners. Kalba’s Senegal striker Papa Waigo N’Diaye had a golden opportunity to salvage some pride for his side but his shot hit the bottom of the horizontal and went out.