Al Nasr easily overcome Dubai Club

Al Nasr 2 Dubai club 0
Sharjah 1 Al Wasl 2
Al Shabab 2 Al Dhafra 2
Al Ittihad 1 Al Ain 1


Al Nasr defeated Dubai Club 2-0 in the First Division football league's ninth stage match held at the Al Maktoum stadium in Dubai yesterday.

Al Nasr are now in the second spot with 18 points, while Dubai club stayed in the seventh place with 11 points.

The match was attended by Sheikh Rashid bin Mohammed Al Maktoum, Dubai Club's President, Sheikh Mohammed bin Obaid Al Maktoum, former Chairman of the Al Wasl Board of Directors, Dr Tariq Humaid Al Tayer, Al Nasr club's Executive Bureau Chairman and other Al Nasr and Dubai club's board members.

Walid Murad opened the score for Al Nasr after six minutes from kick off by taking advantage of a rebound from Obaid Mohammed, Dubai club's custodian. It was followed by a left-footer by Semba. Walid hit the ball into the empty net to the delight of the Al Nasr supporters.

This was the second successive match in which Walid scored in the sixth minute. Last week against Al Wasl he netted the goal six minutes after the start. Dubai club's attack rested on the shoulder of the two foreign strikers, Cristian and Kabouka, who were closely marked by the Al Nasr defenders Khamis Salim and Mohammed Khamsi.

They kept them at bay throughout the 90 minutes. Semba lost a good chance to add Al Nasr's second when he shot over the bar with the goal open in front of him in the 19th minute. Qazim Ali also missed another chance for Al Nasr when Walid seized the ball from the goalkeeper and passed to Qazim.

With the goal empty of its keeper, Qazim shot hit a defender and went to the corner. Again Al Nasr attacked through Walid, who passed to Qazim in front of Dubai goal. Qazim surprisingly shot over the bar three minutes before the interval.

Al Nasr striker Semba missed a series of scoring chances in the second half which could have made them winners with a huge margin. In the 47th minute he advanced, but shot near the post.

Semba denied his club from scoring in the 54th minute when he followed Qazim, who shot to score from it. But he was in an offside position and had he let the ball go, it would have even entered without his interference.

Four minutes later, Semba was put through only with the Dubai keeper to beat, but he couldn't go past him and the ball was cleared by the defenders. Semba continued squandering chances. In the 70th minute Walid crossed to him in front of the gaol, but he shot straight into the keeper's hands.

Obaid Mohammed tipped Zarwali's powerful shot to the corner in the 74th minute with Salah Abbas scoring Al Nasr's second goal from the resultant corner crossed by Zarwali.

Al Nasr coach took out unlucky Semba in the 75th minute, however, to the surprise of Al Nasr supporters. He brought in Saeed Meer, who played as a defender in Semba's place in the frontline. Dubai club went all out for attack with Cristian, whose shot missed the post by inches, and Abdullah Mussa's shot went over the crossbar in the last minutes.

Al Nasr's custodian Mubarak Yaqout was in a good form yesterday. He caught all the crosses sent by the Dubai club players from the flanks or through free kicks.

In the other matches played yesterday, Al Wasl scored their first win of the league after beating Sharjah 2-1 at Sharjah stadium. Farhad Majiedi scored Al Wasl's first goal in the 18th minute with Nawaf Mubarak levelling for Sharjah in the 75th minute.

Humaid Yousuf snatched the winner for Al Wasl in the last minute from the spot. Al Wasl are in eighth position with eight points while Sharjah stayed 11th with five points.

In Kalba, Al Ain were forced to settle for a draw with Al Ittihad at the latter's ground in Kalba. Al Ain dropped to the third place with 18 points, while Al Ittihad in the ninth place with seven points.

Al Shabab are still looking for their first win in the league. They were held to a 2-2 draw by Al Dhafra at Maktoum bin Rashid stadium in Dubai. Al Shabab stayed at the bottom of the table with three points while Al Dhafra become 10th with six points.