Dubai: Both Dubai teams ended on the losing side in late-night action in the 21st round of the Arabian Gulf League (AGL) late on Thursday.
Al Ain took sweet revenge for their last week’s loss in the Super Cup with a 1-0 home win against ten-man Al Ahli, while Emirates made their long journey from Ras Al Khaimah count with a 3-1 win against Al Shabab, reduced to nine men.
Asamaoh Gyan marked his return to the side scoring his 12th goal of the season and the only one of the match to help Al Ain maintain their position at the top of the league.
Whereas in Dubai, third-placed Al Shabab crumbled to a shock 1-3 defeat at the hands of Emirates, who made a sudden jump into ninth place from 12th due to the three points. Emirates scored a couple before half-time and added a third midway through the second for full points.
Thursday’s win took Al Ain further away at the top of the table for a seven-point cushion from a chasing Al Jazira (42 points), while Al Shabab continued in third with 40 points.
The visitors opened the scoring in the 13th minute when a stunner from South Korean Jin Ho Sin from nearly 45 yards caught Al Shabab goalkeeper Salem Abdullah totally off-guard.
The match got off to a casual pace with the first bit of action before goal coming from the visitors in the ninth minute as Luis Henrique’s cross from the right just evaded fellow Brazilian Alexandro Da Silva at the far corner.
Much against the run of play, Emirates surprisingly took the lead in the 13th minute when a long range shot from at least 45 yards caught Al Shabab goalkeeper Salem Abdullah completely off-guard.
The home team came close to equalising on a couple of occasions, in the first instance a Rashid Hassan shot went wide in the 14th minute and then a minute later an Edgar header from a Dawood Ali cross landed straight into the hands of an alert Ahmad Al Shaji on the Emirates goal.
The home team was reduced to ten in the 35th minute when Mohammad Ayed drew a straight red for bringing down Da Silva and Henrique converted the resultant penalty to put Emirates 2-0 in the clear at half-time.
Though down to ten, Al Shabab started the second half on a promising note and should have been rewarded with a goal in the 54th minute but Edgar Bruno’s long effort hit the framework and bounced out.
Two minutes later, Al Shabab received their second red card when Mahmoud Qasim was given the marching orders by referee Yaqoub Al Hammadi for foul on substitute Haitham Ali Matroushi.
The match was as good as over by then as it turned out into a battle of unequals. The visitors made full use of this and a lurking da silva latched on to a deflection from the Al Shabab goalkeeper to slam home the third in the 68th minute.
However, Al Shabab simply refused to give up and managed to pull a goal back in the 73rd minute when substitute Eisa Mohammad tapped into an unguarded goal following a well-taken corner.
Meanwhile, Thursday’s early match between Al Dhafra and Al Nasr was pushed forward by a day for a 6 pm kick-off on Friday due to bad weather conditions in Al Dhafra.
