News Center

Last-placed Dibba Al Fujairah shock top side Al Ain with 1-0 win

Top-of-the-League Al Ain suffered a bad day at the office, surrendering to a 1-0 defeat at home to the Etisalat Pro League’s bottom side Dibba Al Fujairah. The shock result will inspire chasers Al Jazira and Bani Yas to try and capitalise with their games to follow in Round 17, hoping to cut Al Ain’s lead at the top to 6 points if they can register victories this weekend. Meanwhile Dibba Al Fujairah will be buoyed by the unexpected result as they try to lift themselves to safety off  the bottom of the table, where they now sit with 10 points.

Al Ain started the game without playmaker Omar Abdulrahman, who is struggling with an injury, but the team’s attacking prowess was still in full flow without the UAE national team star as they pressured Dibba Al Fujairah right from the start, with close efforts from top scorer Asamoah Gyan, French striker Jires Kembo-Ekoko and midfielder Ali Al Wehaibi. The visiting side unsurprisingly set up with a defensive formation, relying heavily on the counter attack to carve out any scoring chances for themselves in the opening period.

Despite Al Ain’s dominance, it was the visitors who took a shock lead in the 33rd minute, with Luiz Fernando capitalizing on Al Ain defender Ismail Ahmed’s failure to deal with a back pass into the defense. The Brazilian collected Ahmed’s miscontrol and coolly slotted a left-footed strike past Dawoud Sulaiman in the Al Ain goal, putting his bottom-of-the-table side a goal up against the League leaders and reigning champions. Al Ain immediately tried to make amends, hitting back with a header from defender Mohanad Al Anzy, which flew over the crossbar in the 35th minute. Asamoah Gyan also went close with a header in the 40th minute but his effort was tipped over the crossbar by Dibba Al Fujairah’s goalkeeper, and the visitors held onto their 1-0 lead as the referee blew his whistle for half time.

The second half saw much of the same story, as Dibba Al Fujairah defended their lead with their lives and Al Ain’s strike force failed to make the breakthrough with a frustrating lack of cutting edge in the final third. Even the introduction of Omar Abdulrahman in the second half couldn’t change Al Ain’s luck, as they continued to pressurise the Dibba Al Fujairah back line but once the ninety minutes plus six minutes of injury time were up, it was Al Ain who slumped to only their second defeat of the season as Dibba Al Fujairah celebrated a monumental 1-0 away victory over the team at the opposite end of the table.