Sand boots in winner in the nick of time

Abu Dhabi: A heart-stopping goal by Argentine striker Jose Sand helped Al Ain beat Sharjah 2-1 late on Saturday in the UAE Football League (UFL). It also secured them third place on the standings by the end of the first round of the competition.

Sand, the top scorer of the competition with 11 goals in as many matches, scored in the second minute of injury time to break Sharjah's strong resistance and fierce fighting throughout the match.

Al Ain started the match pressing for an early goal and the visitors defended bravely till the 18th minute when Brazilian Emerson capitalised on the defensive blunder to beat Rashid Ahmad, the visiting custodian.

Levelled

But it was only five minutes before the score was levelled from the penalty spot as Fifa referee Fareed Ali awarded Sharjah a correct penalty after Salem Abdullah fouled Humaid Ahmad inside the box. Marcelo, Sharjah's Brazilian striker, was on target.

Cerezo, Brazilian head coach of Al Ain, and his Portuguese counterpart, Manuel Cajuda, used all their winning cards in the second half to win the points but it was Sand who had the last word celebrating his return to the team after serving a one match suspension last week.

Al Ain increased their tally to 23 points behind Al Jazira and Al Wahda while Sharjah retreated to the 10th place with only 12 points and are facing the threat of relegation.

Mystery team

Sharjah, in fact, are one of the UFL's major mysteries. Their coach Cajuda has succeeded greatly in improving the standards of the game in the team and brought some new faces like Humaid Ahmad, Abdul Aziz Sangour and Rashid Ahmad who showed great promise.

The team played beautifully but lost.

They need quality foreign players to add to their local line-up in order to avoid relegation and to start going up the standings in the second round.