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Al Ain overcome hosts Al Dhafra 3-1 to take leadership

Al Ain returned from the Western region with 3 valuable points following their 3-1 win over hosts Al Dhafra in the game played this evening, Saturday November 20th in the concluding day of the 4th round of Etisalat Cup competition. The winners maintained their 1st victory after six successive draws in both the Etisalat Pro League and the Etisalat Cup to raise their tally to 8 points that see them on top of group "A". Al Dhafra remain in the 5th position with 3 points. Al Ain  were the better side since the start of the game after putting more pressure on the home team's defense. In spite of playing without more than 15 key players including the Argentinean player Sand who was suffering stomach pains, besides 8 players who are in National duties and some other injured stars, the winners controlled the match and were able to create a handful of opportunities looking for the 1st goal. The visiting team came close to take the lead only 14 minutes into the game when Abdullah Mal Allah, who showed his first debut with the 1st squad since the beginning of this season, sent a perfect feft- footer that hit the cross bar. Juma'a Saeed from Ivory Coast was to open the score for Al Ain four minutes later when he received a lovely pass from his colleague Bander Mohammed, but he failed to drive the ball home from inside the six yard area. His countryman Ibrahima Keyta also squandered another chance a few seconds later when his header missed the target and Abdulla Mal Allah missed a 3rd sitter in the 23rd minute.

The visitors continued their attempts, pressing hard, creating a number of chances and their pressure resulted in six consecutive corners in the 1st half hour while the hosts failed to threaten their opponents'' goalkeeper Dawood Sulaiman. Al Ain's dynamic player Faraj Juma'a came close to net the 1st goal but his fierce shot rebounded off the goalkeeper before being cleared by a defender in the 28th minute. The visitors' superiority was soon resulted in the 1st goal of the match when Juma'a Saeed from Ivory Coast received a nice pass from Faraj Juma'a; he rested the ball on his chest before sending it into the net in the 32nd minute. The home team made some organized attacks to level the score and their striker Tawfique Abdul Razak succeeded to make it 1-1 when he netted the equalizer in the last minute of the 1st session.

Al Dhafra's Nigerian player Abbas Moya came near to put his team into the lead a few seconds after the break when he found himself clear with only the goalkeeper to beat but his close-range shot missed the target. Hadaf Al Amry of Al Ain squad sent a rocket-like volley that rebounded off the hosts' custodian but Hadaf returned it into the net scoring the 2nd goal in the 64th minute and Jama'a Saeed came to secure the result for Al Ain when he added the 3rd goal four minutes before the final whistle.

On the other hand, the visiting team Kalba forced the hosts team Al Wasl to a goalless draw in the match played on Saturday November 20th.  The hosts slipped to 3rd place with 6 points and Kalba stay in their previous 5th position with only 3 points.

In the 3rd game of the day, Al Jazira came out with a 3-1 win over hosts Sharjah to raise their tally to 7 points taking the leadership of group "B" on goal difference from Al Shabab who also have collected the same balance of points, whereas the hosts Sharjah are still at the bottom of the standings of the 2nd group with only 2 points. Ali Mabkhot, the man of the match, gave Al Jazira a quick lead when he netted the ball home only 3 minutes into the game. The Brazilian player Marcelo Oliveira Da Silva of Sharjah lost a golden chance in the 14th minute when his header went over the cross bar. Argentinean player Matías Delgado surprised the hosts with a fierce shot that went straight into their net giving his side a 2-0 lead. Sharjah tried their best to reduce the deficit making good attempts and their efforts yielded their lone goal of the match which was scored by Humaid Ahmad in the 32nd minute to end the 1st half with a 2-1 lead for Al Jazira. The 2nd half witnessed only one goal when Ali Mabkhot received a perfect pass inside the box and he did not hesitate to slam the ball home in the 55th minute to make it 3-1. Both teams failed to add more goals in the rest of the time in spite of some chances, to end the encounter with a 3-1 result for Al Jazira.