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Al Ain maintain third victory in the Etisalat Pro-League Competition

 

Al Ain moved one step forward following their deserved 2-0 win over Al Wahda in their Etisalat Pro-League, week 15 match, played tonight at Tahnoun Bin Mohammed Stadium. The hosts maintained their first win in 209 days as they failed to beat their rivals in 12 successive weeks. Their last victory in the Etisalat Pro-League was against Al Nasr in the second round, September 3, when they beat them 3-0. Al Ain's players were boosted by the newly-appointed Board of Directors' members headed by Sheikh Abdullah Bin Mohammed Bin Khalid Al Nahyan who followed the last training sessions giving the technical body and the players every bit of self confidence. The players were also encouraged and cheered up by the big mass of spectators who nearly fully packed the stadium.

The winners maintained their third win since the start of the Etisalat Pro-League to raise their tally to 14 points while the losers remain in 9th place with 19 points

The home team demonstrated a neat and brilliant display from the word go and they came close to surprise the visitors with an early goal in many occasions, but all their efforts were in vain. Their midfielder Rami Yaslam sent a severe shot but it missed the target only four minutes into the game. The Brazilian player Elias and his debutant colleague Valentine from Romania tried to find the back of the net but they failed to score despite of the handful of chances that came their way.

Al Wahda played below par and their performance was different of that against leaders Al Jazira in round 14 when they drew 2-2. Their today's display was in lack of concentration especially inside the penalty area. They played the game without five of their key players, Brazilian Hogo, Hydar Alo Ali, Mahmoud Khamis, Saeed Al Katheri and Khalid Jalal who have earlier collected two yellow cards each and their coach was afraid to field them so as to avoid the possibility of collecting a third card which, if it happens, will deprive the player who receives the yellow card from taking part against Al Jazira in the President's Cup final match due to kick off on April 10.

Al Ain's continuous efforts yielded the first goal when Mohammed Al Shehhy fouled Ali Al Wihabi inside the box for a penalty and the Brazilian player Elias converted the ball into the net giving the home squad an early 1-0 lead. Both teams tried hard to add more goals but they couldn't to end the first half with a lone goal.

Al Wahda tried to recover and level the score after the break but the hosts's defenders stood solid on their way. Ali Al Wihabi, the man of the match, was a real headache for the visiting side with his fast performance. Elias added to the owes of Al Wahda when he made it 2-0 with a long-range shot that beat the goalkeeper Adil Al Hosani and went straight into the right hand corner in the 59th minute. In spite of the big efforts exerted by both teams afterwards, they failed to add more goals to finish the game with a 2-0 victory for Al Ain.