UAE Professional League Committee - UAE Pro League Committee

Ajman defeat Al Ahli with two straight goals; Al Nasr crush Al Shaab 6-1

Ajman tightened their grip on top of Group “C” with 12 points after beating Al Ahli with two straight goals in the Etisalat Cup 8^th round match held tonight at Rashid bin Saeed Stadium in Ajman. The hosts kept their hopes alive and increased their chance to qualify to the semifinals while Al Ahli, the defending champions, are completely out of contention and are still classified at the bottom of the group with only 2 points.

The winners dominated the game from the word go giving their rivals hard time and their continuous efforts were soon rewarded when their new Moroccan player Driss Fettouhi put them into the lead of a dead ball that deflected by defender Abdulrahman Yousuf into the net in the 12^th minute. Most of the work was concentrated on the midfield afterwards with a virtual superiority for the home team over their opponents and that helped them to add the second goal through Founeke Sy in the 68^th minute with a perfect header after receiving a lovely pass from his teammate Fettouhi.

The two teams went on their attempts trying to score more goals but they failed despite of the number of chances they created in the last minutes.

In the second game of this round, Al Nasr raised their tally to 11 points following a 6-1 victory over Al Shaab at Al Maktoum Stadium to revive their hopes in the semifinal race. The winners jumped to second place on goal difference to third-placed Al Ain who will face group leaders Al Wahda tomorrow, Thursday, January 17. Al Shaab are still at the bottom of the standings with only two points. Bruno Cesar opened the scoring for Al Nasr only ten minutes into play and Japanese new player Morimoto added the second four minutes later before Cesar came to make it 3-0 in the 36^th minute. The Lebanese player Hassan Maatooq reduced the deficit 4 minutes before the break.

The winners added three more goals in the second session through Mascara, Humaid Abbas and Younis Ahmed in the 54^th, 60^th and 68^th minutes respectively.