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Al Jazira beat Al Dhafra 1-0 to move to top of the table

Al Jazira midfielder Ibrahima Diaky's lone goal helped his side to beat hosts Al Dhafra yesterday at Hamdan Bin Zayed Stadium in the Western Region to raise their tally to 14 points at the end of the second day of the sixth round of Etisalat Pro-league. This puts them on top of the table provisionally, whilst the losers remain in 9th position with six points. Al Jazira jumped forward to first place on the table ahead of former leader's Al Wasl, who are set to take on Kalba today.

Brazilian player Barry scored the first goal after only seven minutes but it was disallowed due to heavy play with defender Adil Abdullah, which forced Al Dhafra's coach to make an early substitute bringing in Ghareeb Harib. Abbas Moya came close to netting one for Al Dhafra, capitalising off a Juma'a Abdullah error, but his shot was blocked by Al Jazira's custodian Ali Kusaif in the 21st minute. Ibrahima Diaky, who missed a valuable chance in the 15th minute, put his team in the lead ten minutes later to end the first half 1-0 to Al Jazira.

The hosts put more pressure on the visitors' defense looking for the equaliser especially after their Swiss coach Di Castal brought in Boris Kabi from Cote D'Ivore to replace Mohammed Al Sayed 12 minutes after the break. They worked hard to level the game but squandered a number of easy opportunities in front of their opponents' goal, who were relying on their local players in the last ten minutes after Brazilian coach Braga pulled off all three expatriates. Attempts by both teams in the second half did not yield more goals, and Al Jazira ended the game with a 1-0 victory.

At the other match of the day, the home team Bani Yas surprised Al Ain with a 3-0 win. The winner's move provisionally to third place with 12 points, whilst their closest competitor's Sharjah (10 points) will play Al Shabab today at home. The loss saw Al Ain slip to 7th position with eight points, but they may go down even further to 8th place if Al Shabab succeed in beating hosts Sharjah this evening. Bani Yas' Andre Sengahoor slammed in the first goal in the 38th minute off Diyab Awana's cross ball. Ismail Ahmed then made a blunder which saw Omani player Fawzi Basheir score Bani Yas' second goal in the 63rd minute. Al Ain's midfielder Hazaa Salim did find himself with only the goalkeeper to beat on three occasions but missed all chances. Defender Faris Juma'a also committed an error that allowed Sengahoor to add his second goal with great confidence to make it 3-0 only one minute later. Bani Yas' striker Sengahoor raised his tally to eight goals, which sees him sitting at the top the season goal scorers.

Al Ain tried their best through the entire second half to reduce the deficit but all their efforts went unrewarded. Argentinean player Sand sent a fierce volley from out the box but it bounced off the upright four minutes before the end of the game and his colleague Abdul Aziz Fayez fired a similar shot which also bounced off the bar two minutes into the injury time.

Al Wasl vs Kalba kicks off at 5.10pm today at Al Wasl's home ground, whilst Sharjah play at home to Al Shabab with kick off at 8pm.