Abu Dhabi: Al Wahda made it three wins out of three in the Arabian Gulf League on Friday night, beating local rivals Bani Yas 2-1 away to go top of the table.
Meanwhile, champions Al Ahli produced a devastating display away to Al Wasl, thrashing the ten-man Cheetahs 5-1 thanks to a hat-trick from Chilean striker Luis Jimenez and a brace from Brazilian hit-man Grafite.
However, the Red Knights remain three points behind Al Wahda, who came from a goal down in the Abu Dhabi derby to preserve their unbeaten record.
Bani Yas opened the scoring in the 12th minute through Yousef Jaber, a lead the home side maintained until half-time.
But Jose Peseiro’s Al Wahda side were a different proposition in the second half, Amer Omar firing in his third goal of the season just two minutes after the restart.
Eleven minutes later, Adil Hermach made it 2-1 when he struck his second goal of the new campaign.
Al Wahda clung on to a precious victory despite substitute Eissa Abdulla being dismissed in injury time for two yellow cards, having only been on the pitch since the 84th minute.
The Clarets now lead the standings by two points from Abu Dhabi rivals Al Jazira, who cruised to a 3-0 victory at home to Emirates on Thursday.
One point further back are Cosmin Olaroiu’s Al Ahli, though, who produced an emphatic statement of intent that they are not about to relinquish their league crown lightly.
Grafite netted his first goal of the league season to put Al Ahli ahead after seven minutes, but Al Wasl replied soon afterwards when Ederson’s looping header caught goalkeeper Majed Naser off his line and dipped in at the far post.
However, after that, the home side were no match for the irresistible Red Knights, for whom Grafite netted his second via a penalty and then Jimenez showed his class with a second-half hat-trick.
Al Wasl had been handicapped by the sending off of Ahmad Al Shamisi in the 36th minute after a high tackle on Jimenez.
Earlier on Friday, Sharjah moved off the bottom of the table after beating fellow strugglers Kalba 4-2, while Al Shabab edged past ten-man Al Nasr 2-1.
Sharjah’s first points of the season mean Kalba replace them as the AGL basement boys.
They had stormed into a 4-0 lead with three minutes to go thanks to Luan Michel Louza’s 25th-minute opener and second-half goals from Yousif Saeed Juma (51) and Wanderley (87), along with an own goal from Yacob Hassan Mohammad (81).
But two injury-time goals from Portuguese striker Luis Leal added a layer of respectability to the result for Kalba.
Al Shabab, meanwhile, displayed their title credentials with a hard-fought win over Al Nasr, who suffered their first defeat of the season.
Goals from Henrique Luvannor and Carlos Villanueva meant Ali Al Ameri’s second-half strike was only a consolation for Al Nasr, who had Mahmoud Khamis sent off for a second bookable offence.
