Al Jazira and Al Ahli post warning

Dubai: Al Jazira and former champions Al Ahli stepped forward as two of the more serious teams with title ambitions at the end of the 17th week of matches in the etisalat UAE National Football League.

Al Jazira consolidated second place to keep up the pressure on leaders Al Shabab, while Al Ahli leap-frogged Al Shaab to occupy fourth position, thanks to their 6-1 mauling of 10-man Hatta Club.

Al Shabab blew their chance of maintaining a four-point cushion at the top of the standings following a fighting 2-2 away draw against Al Wahda, while neighbours Al Wasl and Al Nasr fought their way to an entertaining 1-1 draw in the Dubai derby on Friday.

Sharjah also dropped two valuable points when they came back from a two-goal deficit to hold former champions Al Ain late on Saturday.

Though Sharjah stay in third place with 29 points, a win against the home team would have seen them breathing down the necks of both Al Jazira and Al Shabab at the top of the standings.

Thumped

The most shocking result of the week was the solitary home defeat of Al Shaab at the hands of lowly Dhafra.

The win enabled the team from Abu Dhabi to move away from relegation zone, now sitting pretty in ninth place with 21 points, the same as eighth-placed Al Nasr.

Interestingly, Dhafra had thumped Al Shaab 3-0 in their first-round encounter at the start of the season.

Despite an exciting draw against the league leaders, Al Wahda know they must do much better in their remaining six games. For the time-being they must be thinking about ways to avoid relegation, but they would do well to keep a positive frame and utilise the talent to thrash out as many wins as possible in their remaining matches.

By far the most impressive performance came from Al Ahli as they bared their teeth for next week's President's Cup final against Al Wasl with a rousing 6-1 demolition of Hatta Club.

The highlight of the match was a brace each from Faisal Khalil and Iranian pro Milad Medawoodi, while Ahmad Khalil and Brazilian Caesar added one each against a visiting side reduced to 10 men after defender Nasser Hassan was given the marching orders for a second bookable offence by the referee Fahad Al Qasar.

Until the sending off, Hatta Club had done well to contain and frustrate their more illustrious opponents.

The league will now take a short break for 12 days for the final of the President's Cup between Al Ahli and defending champions Al Wasl in Abu Dhabi on April 14.