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Al Ahli go 2nd in the table with comfortable 2-0 win over Al Shaab

Free-scoring Al Ahli registered a comfortable 2-0 win over Al Shaab at the Rashid Stadium on Saturday night, to conclude Round 20 of the Etisalat Pro League. Having put six past Dubai in their last League match, Al Ahli jumped above Bani Yas into 2nd place in the table with a points total of 39. Al Shaab, meanwhile, continue to hover dangerously close to the drop zone in 12th place with 11 points.

The game got off to a disrupted start as Al Shaab were shaken by the loss of Omar Al Shehhi as early as the 3rd minute. The Emirati midfielder came off worse in a challenge with Majed Hassan and was stretchered off the pitch in quite some distress, to be replaced by Juma Sanqoor. Al Ahli’s attacking prowess began to show, even without the missing Ricardo Quaresma, only fit for the bench, and Grafite who watched on from the stands, and in the 11th minute Al Shaab defender Ali Mohamed almost put through his own net with a sliced clearance that he was relieved to see fly over the crossbar. But it was only a minute later that Al Ahli managed to get their noses in front, as UAE national team striker Ahmed Khalil was brought down in the area by Kazem Ali. The referee pointed to the spot and Khalil picked himself up to take the penalty he had won, dispatching a low shot into the bottom left-hand corner to put Al Ahli 1-0 up in the 13th minute.

The home side’s attacks continued through great link-up play between Ahmed Khalil, Ismaeel Al Hammadi and Luis Jiminez, with all three players registering further shots on goal during the first half. Adnan Al Beloshi also went close with a powerful drive from a tight angle in the 16th minute, but failed to work the goalkeeper. At the other end of the pitch, Al Ahli’s defense were ready with blocks and tackles to repel any of Al Shaab’s infrequent forays forward. A thunderous drive from the in-form Ahmed Khalil whizzed just past the right-hand post in the 22nd minute and Ismaeel Al Hammadi also continued to try his luck from distance as Al Ahli sensed more goals from the encounter. The 44th minute saw Al Hammadi pick up the ball on the left-hand touchline before embarking upon a mazy run and cutting inside to pick out Adnan Al Beloshi, whose stinging shot was palmed away acrobatically for a corner by Mutaz Abdulla in the Al Shaab goal to keep the score down to 1-0 at half time.

Having dominated the first half, Al Ahli got the second period of play underway by doubling their lead almost immediately. The industrious Ismaeel Al Hammadi got a deserved reward for his hard work down the left wing, once again cutting inside and drilling a low shot across goal, which hit the far post before going in to make it 2-0 to the Red Knights in the 47th minute. Al Hammadi and Amir Mubarak both forced saves from Mutaz Abdulla in the Al Shaab goal in the following ten minutes before an extra dimension was added to Al Ahli’s attacking lineup when Portuguese international Ricardo Quaresma was introduced in place of Majed Hassan in the 58th minute. A minute before the substitution, Al Shaab recorded their first real chance as Michael Laurent Ndri’s glancing strike called Majed Naser into action, but the effort didn’t trouble the Al Ahli goalkeeper on a quiet evening between the sticks. Al Ahli were in cruise control for much of the second half, seldom needing to step up a gear as they controlled possession and continued to fire pot-shots from distance through Ahmed Khalil, Al Hammadi and Quaresma as the game fizzled out with a 2-0 scoreline.