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Al Dhafra seal 3-0 away win at Ajman

A brace from Makhete Diop and a Hazza Salem strike secured a 3-0 away win for Al Dhafra at Ajman’s Rashid bin Saeed Stadium in the rescheduled Round 14 of the Etisalat Pro League, with all three goals coming in the first half. The victory puts Al Dhafra on 27 points after 20 games, though their League position of 8th remains unchanged. Ajman stay 10th on 22 points having missed out on the chance to add to their tally.

Ajman made their attacking intentions clear as early as the first minute, as Adil Salem’s vicious shot crashed against the crossbar, and in the 5th minute Fawzi Bashir saw his effort saved by Al Dhafra goalkeeper Khaled Al Senani. 10 minutes into the game, and seemingly against the run of play, Al Dhafra were awarded a penalty as Rodrigo was felled in the area by Ajman defender Ahmed Ibrahim. Rodrigo got up to take the penalty himself, only to see his effort saved by Ajman’s stand-in ‘keeper Jaber Jasim but Senegalese striker Makhete Diop made amends by being the quickest to react and slotting away the rebound to put Al Dhafra 1-0 up. Three minutes later Ajman had a good chance to get back on level terms but Founeke Sy put his stooping header just wide, and Boris Kabi, Driss Fettouhi and Ali Khamis also had opportunities to square up the score. The home side were left to rue their missed chances as Al Dhafra doubled their lead in the 26th minute, with a diagonal ball from deep in midfield catching Ajman’s defense off-guard, enabling Diop to race ahead of the centre-back pairing and put a composed finish past Jaber Jasim to bag his brace and give Al Dhafra a 2-0 advantage. Ajman continued to threaten as Moroccan midfiender Driss Fettouhi’s fierce 34th-minute effort stung the palms of Khaled Al Senani, but just five minutes later Al Dhafra put the result almost beyond doubt as they notched their third goal of the game. Ajman goalkeeper Jaber Jasim was in a hurry to release the ball in an attempt to set his side away on an attack, but the shot-stopper got his throw all wrong as it was collected by Al Dhafra’s Hazza Salem, who took advantage of the ‘keeper being off his line and struck an accurate finish into the unguarded net from 30 yards. Just before half time Driss Fettouhi was fouled on the edge of the area, giving his side a good chance to pull one back at the break, but the resulting free kick didn’t make it over the wall; an accurate reflection of Ajman’s first half, as they headed into the home dressing room 3-0 down.

Ajman head coach Abdulwahab Abdulkader made one change at half time, bringing on Jasem Ali in place of Waleed Ahmed, but the substitution made little difference to the game as Ajman were still unable to find a way through. Al Dhafra, meanwhile, were quite content to sit back on their 3-0 lead and absorb any attacks from the home side. The second half lacked the end-to-end excitement of the opening period as substitutions disrupted the rhythm of the game, and there were no real clear-cut chances for either side until Khaled Al Senani was forced to make a flying fingertip save from Boris Kabi just before the final whistle, but Al Dhafra held on to take all three points with a 3-0 win.