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Al Wasl overcome Al Ahli to take leadership provisionally

Dubai- based Al Wasl have jumped provisionally to the top of group "B" in the Etisalat Cup with nine points following their 2-0 victory over Al Ahli in their match played on Thursday November 25th at the winners pitch. Both teams failed to find the net before the break to end the first half with a goalless draw. But Al Wasl took the lead only three minutes into the 2nd session when the referee awarded them a penalty and Essa Ali converted the ball into the net. The losers made good efforts to level the score but Omran Abdul Rahim added to their owes when he netted the second goal seven minutes later. It was the third successive defeat for the visitors who have collected only four points so far to remain in the 5th position. They stared their march in this competition with a 1-1 draw against Kalba before beating Sharjah 5-2 and then losing in three games to Al Jazira 0-1, Al Shabab 0-1 and Al Wasl 0-2.

In the second match of the 5th round, Al Jazira came to add one point when they were forced by Kalba to a 2-2 draw in their match played at Bani Yas ground. Al Jazira have slipped one step downward to take runners-up provisionally with eight points before Al Shabab-Sharjah tomorrow's match. Kalba are in the fifth place after maintaining their 5th successive draw. They took the lead when Salim Jasim found the back of the net in the 29th minute to end the first session with a 1-0 win. But their rivals recovered after half time to score two goals through Ibrahima Diaky and Bare in the 55th and 71st minutes consecutively. Moreover their Brazilian player Bare succeeded to net his first goal in this season. Al Jazira could not keep their win as Kalba's striker Abdul Aziz Abdullah pulled one back to level the game three minutes to the end of the final whistle.

On the other hand, Al Wahda maintained their first win by the end of the first division of this championship after beating Dubai 4-2 to step forward to stay in the fifth place with four points. In spite of missing a number of their key players due to the team's preparations for the FIFA Clubs World Cup, Al Wahda who played at home, were the better side after controlling the game most of the time. They took the lead only 17 minutes into the game through Mohammed Al Mammary, but the visiting squad reduced the deficit when Hassan Mohammed slammed home the equalizer four minutes to the end of the first half.

The winners continued their raids after the break trying to add more goals and their efforts soon yielded three consecutive goals through Salim Saleh, Mohammed Al Mammary and Abdullah Al Shihy in the 53rd, 63rd and 79th minutes before the French professional player Michael Laurent netted the second goal for the losers to make it 4-2.

 The 5th round will be concluded on Friday November 26th when Al Shabab meet Sharjah at 4:45pm, Bani Yas host Al Dhafra at 4:50pm and Al Ain face Al Nasr at Qattara stadium at 8pm.