Al Jazira confirmed their desire to win their first-ever first division league title by trouncing lowly Bani Yas 6-0 in their soccer match yesterday to maintain their lead of the standings with 28 points and a fat goal difference in their favour.

The humiliating defeat came in at a bad time for Bani Yas, who won their last league match at home beating Sharjah 5-2. The win boosted the morale of the players as well as their supporters and increase their hopes of remaining in the first division.

But yesterday's performance and result indicate that the team has a mammoth task in the remaining matches to avoid relegation.

They are still placed 11th with 11 points from 13 matches, one place ahead of Al Khaleej. Two teams will be relegated to the second division at the end of the season.

Al Jazira, meanwhile, played their best match of the season with organised attacking moves, while defending and attacking as a team.

While George Weah was in his usual brilliant self, credit should be given to their youngster Yousuf Abdul Aziz, who made in roads in the right flank and was everything a coach needs in a modern wing back.

Yousuf led one of his trade mark attacking moves on the right and crossed to Weah, whose header, 13 minutes into the game, put the home team into the lead as the Bani Yas' defenders were caught off guard inside their six yard area.

Al Jazira pressed for more goals, but they squandered a number of sitters that came their way while Ismail Rabie, Bani Yas libero and Shaiban Salih, the visiting custodian, saved at least two definite goals in the 15 minutes that followed the first goal.

Yousuf Hassan crossed a corner kick and Hussain Suhail rose above the visiting defenders to head his team's second goal, 27 minutes into the encounter.

Nine minutes before the break Yousuf Abdul Aziz created another goal as he launched another raid on the right flank before crossing to James Debbah, who found no difficulty in placing home the third goal for Al Jazira.

Rainer Zobel, the Bani Yas German coach, tried to salvage whatever pride was left for his team and brought in Harib Rabie in place of Najim to mark Debbah.

But the match went against the coach's wish as his team went further down when his defender Mohammed Rashid headed into his own net for Al Jazira's fourth goal off a Yousuf's cross from the right only two minutes after the breather. The goal was a heavy blow for the visitors' hopes and from that moment Al Jazira dominated the match totally.

Bani Yas' most serious attempt came 20 minutes after the interval when their professional midfielder Abdulla Traore back-double-kick from an Adil Habboush corner was deflected by the bar. His team was duly punished for losing that chance as the home team scored their fifth goal two minutes later when Nasir Eissa sent a penetrating pass to Weah, who went clear and beat the goalie for his personal second.

Ten minutes later, Saeed Jumaa, the home team custodian, sent a long pass to Debbah, who went past Harib Rabie and his younger brother Ismail before sending a fierce shot for his team's last goal.

The result was a nightmare for Bani Yas' professional striker, Hani Al Dhabit, who will be honoured today in Muscat by Mohammed bin Hammam, the new President of the AFC and Peter Velappan, the secretary general, for winning the Fifa Top Striker for 2001 for the goal he scored for his country, Oman last year.