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Al Ain thrash Al Dhafra 3-0 to move to 9th position

 

Al Ain came from the Western Region with three valuable points following their 3-0 win over hosts Al Dhafra in their Etisalat Pro-League Round 18 game played at Hamdan Bin Zayed Stadium tonight. The winners moved one step forward to take 9th position on 21 points while the losers are still sitting at the bottom of the table with 12 points and fear relegation to first division. The two teams played an attacking football from the word go looking for a win that would help the winners to add three valuable points.

 The visitors missed the efforts of their two defenders Musalam Fayez due to suspension and Faris Juma'a who underwent recently a laparoscopic surgery to remove the appendix. Their Romanian player Valentin also did not take part as their coach Alexander Gallo is not content with his technical standard. Al Ain's striker Mohammad Abdul Rahman came close to put his side into the lead when he launched a fierce volley that rebounded off the goalkeeper Mohammad Hussain's hands before being cleared by a defender only 18 minutes into the game. But the same player came four minutes later to compensate for his previous lost chance when he headed home the ball switched by his brother Omar off a flag kick.

The hosts played below the par and their poor performance helped the visiting team to threaten their goal with continuous raids. Al Ain's left full back Mohammad Salim sent a strong left footer for the custodian to deflect it to a corner in the 27th minute. The visitors went on their attempts looking for the second goal while their rivals made some weak attacks that could easily be controlled by Al Ain's defenders. Another threat was made by Al Ain's mid-fielder Shihab Ahmad when he sent a severe shot that was punched by the goalkeeper and then cleared away by a defender six minutes later. Tawfiq Abdul Razaq was to level the score but his close-range shot flew over the cross bar only one minute before the break to end the first session with a 1 - 0 lead for the visiting team.

Al Dhafra recovered in the second half building up some good attempts but failed to find the target. At the same time Al Ain endeavored for the second goal and their efforts were soon paid dividends when Mohammad Abdul Rahman found a loose ball and he did not hesitate to drive it into the empty net five minutes after the break making it 2-0. Al Ain's goalkeeper Waleed Salim felt severe muscle pain that forced him to leave the pitch and his coach Gallo brought in Dawood Sulaiman to replace him in the 58th minute. Shihab Ahmad missed a sitter two minutes later when he received a perfect pass from Omer Abdul Rahman but he shot wide. The performance of the two teams came down afterwards with Al Ain being the better side. The home team tried hard to reduce the deficit and come back to the match but all their work was in vain and as time went on their situation became more complicated. Ismail Ahmad came close to score into his own net ten minutes  to time but his header went over the cross bar. Omar Abdul Rahman put the match beyond the host's dreams when he slammed the ball home off Shihab Ahmad's lovely pass three  minutes  to time securing a 3-0 victory for Al Ain.