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Al Faro leads Al Wasl to beat Bani Yas with a lone goal

With a late goal scored in the 88th minute by Uruguayan striker Al Faro in the Etisalat Cup fourth round match held tonight at Zabeel Stadium in Dubai, Al Wasl took their tally to 9 points to top Group “B” while the losers Bani Yas remain in 4th place with only three points.

The two sides played thrilling opening minutes but missed a bagful of chances. Badr Abdulrahman of Al Wasl squandered the first opportunity of the game only nine minutes into play and the Egyptian player Mohammed Zidane replied with a strong shot that saved by goalkeeper Rashid Ali. Bani Yas coach Jozef Chovanec from Czech made a compulsory substitution when he brought on Nawaf Mubarak to replace Fahad Sabeel who was injured in the 22nd minute. Both Bani Yas strikers, Australian Necolas and Senegalese Sengahor  missed two successive chances in the 24th and 30th minutes respectively as the formers’ shot was deflected by the keeper to a corner in the 24th minute and the latter’s volley flew on top of the cross bar six minutes later. Their teammate Mohammed Zidane came close to put the visitors into the lead but he sent the ball just close to the upright when Al Wasl goalie committed a severe blunder followed by a perfect header from Sengahor that controlled by Al Wasl custodian who demonstrated a brilliant performance to end the first session with a goalless draw.

The two teams lost a number of scoring chances after the break and failed to score despite of the great efforts they have exerted in the second half before Al Faro came to secure full points for Al Wasl when he scored the winner two minutes to time.

In the second match played at Khalifa bin Zayed in Al Ain Club, Dibba Al Fujairah beat Al Ahli with three straight goals to collect their first three points in this competition which helped them to move one step forward taking third spot in Group “C”. The losers are staying at the bottom of the group with a single point. Brazilian Luiz Fernando struck the opener in the 4th minute capitalizing on an error committed by Al Ahli goalkeeper and added the second five minutes before the break to give his side a first half 2-0 lead. His countryman Alexssander put the game beyond reach when he scored the third goal in the 59th minute.