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Faisal and Michael’s duo goals help Al Shaab to surpass bottom-placed Kalba

Al Shaab have collected their fourth win in the Etisalat Pro League in this season after beating Ittihad Kalba 2-1 in round 14  postponed match played tonight at Khalid bin Mohammed Stadium in Sharjah to raise their tally to 14 points and retain their 12th previous position while Ittihad Kalba are still suffering at the bottom of the standings on 10 points.

The two bottomed teams showed a balanced display from the start making continuous attempts, looking for an early goal, but the duo custodians along with the defenders succeeded in keeping their goals untouched with great confidence. Junior Marques was almost to put his team Kalba 1-0 up off the ball he fired at the edge of the box, but the goalkeeper Mutaz cleared it with his fist before being sent away by a defender in the 20th minute. Junior came again to draw the best of the keeper Motaz three minutes later off a dead ball volley but the latter saved bravely deflecting the ball to a corner kick. But it was Al Shaab who took the lead when Noel Kaseke switched a dead ball into Kalb’s goal mouth for Filipe Teixeira to set it to Faisal Khalil who did not hesitate to send a left-footed shot that beat the keeper Khalid Al Saadi giving his team a 1-0 lead. Michael Laurent could have made it 2-0 but he was guilty of squandering a valuable chance when he was only a few meters away for his volley to pass just close to the far left post six minutes before the breather to send the two teams to the dressing rooms with a solitary - goal lead for the hosts.

Al Shaab went on their endeavors after half time trying to increase their tally but all their efforts failed to make their dreams come true whilst Kalba continued their attempts looking for the equalizer and their hard work was rewarded in the 57th minute when their Zimbabwean striker Sadomba collected the ball and ran down the left flank, passed it to the unmarked Mohammed Malalla who launched a severe shot that went straight into the net bringing the game into parity. But it was only five minutes later for the hosts Al Shaab to double their advantage through Michael Laurent who capitalized on his colleague Filipe Tixeira’s pass to end the ball to the right hand side making it 2-1.

Time went on amid a series of attempts from both sides and Kalba’s striker junior Marques was almost to bring the game into parity with a left-footer that saved brilliantly by the experienced goalkeeper Motaz Abdullah who deflected it to a corner kick in the 73rd minute. 

The match continued without any changes in the last ten minutes for Al Shaab to come out with three deserved points and a 2-1 victory.