It is a start of new phase, Ajman skipper Hareb says

Abu Dhabi Bottom of the league Ajman pulled off one of the surprise results of the season when they forced leaders Al Jazira to settle for a 1-1 draw late on Saturday night in the UAE Football League (UFL).

The results prevented Al Jazira's hopes of increasing their lead at the top of the table before the end of the first round of the competition.

True Al Jazira played without many of their key players including Brazilian defender Rozario, midfielder Subait Khater in addition to the fact that both Toni and Ricarrdo Oliveira have to be replaced because of injuries, nonetheless, Ajman deserved to win their first ever point this season and after 10 matches from the leaders, a feat no other team have achieved since Al Jazira drew with Al Ain in the third week of the event.

Ajman players were determined to show their true worth against the top team. They repeated what they did last season when they forced Al Jazira to settle for a tie with the same result which made the Abu Dhabi team lose the title by a single point to Al Ahli.

Mohammad Hussain, the Ajman custodian, was the hero of his team saving more than five certain chances and the only goal that he conceded was from a controversial penalty awarded by referee Abdul Wahid Khater in the 62nd minute which Ebrahim Diaky converted correctly.

Out of the box

The foul against Sultan Bargash was outside the box not inside.

Ajman came back when Mohammad Najmi sent a free kick deep inside the penalty box and Ali Khaseef, the visiting goalie blocked to return from the upleft to Jasem Mohammad who placed home the ball in the 79th minute following a fierce and brave fight by his colleagues to level the score.

Al Jazira increased their tally to 26 points awaiting to see what Al Wahda, in second place with 21 points will do against Sharjah tonight to settle the top places on the standings.

"It is a start of a new phase," Gareeb Hareb, the stand-in captain of Ajman, said after the match. "We proved to be a good team and this spirit of tonight's match will continue and we are determined to start winning points in order to avoid the relegation zone and go up the standings.

"Last season, we won many points in the first round and finished fourth but in the second round we lost many points. This season we have already lost enough points and we will start to work harder to win points. I believe that our team have a lot to show," Hareb concluded.