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Al Dhafra and Al Shabab share points; Ajman outcalss Kalba to maintain First league win

Al Dhafra and Al Shabab were tied to a 1-1 draw to share points of their Etisalat Pro League sixth round match held this evening at Hamdan bin Zayed Al Nahyan Stadium in the Western region. The home team raised their balance to 9 points against 5 points for the visiting team Al Shabab.

The performance of both squads was balanced in the opening minutes. Al Shabab Brazilian striker Ciel sent a severe volley in the 23rd minute that missed the target and Senegalese Machete Diop replied with a header that flew over the cross bar seven minutes later. Ridha Abdul Hadi launched a strong shot but the ball was deflected with great difficulty by Al Shabab keeper to a corner.


Machete Diop put Al Dhafra into the lead ten minutes before the interval with a strong header that beat goalkeeper Salim Abdullah and went into the left hand corner off a cross ball switched by Ridha Abdul Hadi behind the defenders for the Senegalese Diop to send it direct into the net to end the first half with a 1-o lead for the hosts.

Al Dhafra came close to score their second goal through Amara Diane three minutes after the break but Al Shabab goalie saved bravely deflecting the ball to a corner and Brazilian Ciel tested his luck in the 60th minute off a dead ball but it went just neat the left post. But Al Shabab came two minutes later to level the score with Brazilian Louis Henrique’s header to snatch a valuable point to his team.

On the other hand Ajman maintained their first victory in the Etisalat Pro League for this season after beating the visiting team Ittihad Kalbe 6-1 in the sixth round match played tonight at Rashid bin Saeed Stadium to raise their tally to 5 points while Kalba are still sitting at the bottom of the ladder and are yet to open their account. The winners drew twice in the last five league games against Al Dhafra and Al Shabab and lost in three encounters to Al Ain, Al Jazira and Al Wasl.


Ajman’s defender Saleh Basheir put his side into the lead when he scored an early goal only three minutes into play. Kalba recovered afterwards creating a number of scoring chances through the French player Gregory and his Moroccan teammate Nabil Al Dawoodi for the latter to bring the game into parity in the 16th minute when he rounded up two defenders before sending the ball into the net making it 1-1. But Boris Kabi from Ivory Coast the second goal for Ajman with a lovely header off Iraqi Karrar Jasim’s cross ball to end the first session with a 2-1 lead for his team.


Boris Kabi added the third goal eight minutes after the break off a perfect header and Founeke Sy made it 4-1 in the 57th minute. Kabi came to net his first hat trick in the season when he headed home his third personal and Ajman’s fifth goal two minutes later to make things difficult for Kalba. The hosts went on their attempts trying to increase their tally and Founeke sealed the result for them scoring the sixth goal in the 72nd minute. The two teams failed to add more goals in the remaining time to end the game with a 6-1 in favor of Ajman.