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Emirates and Al Ain share points; Ajman beat Sharjah 3/2

Emirates and Al Ain shared points of their third round match in Group "A" of Etisalat Cup which was played this evening in Ras Al Khaimah Stadium and ended with a 1-1 draw. Al Ain raised their tally to 4 points to move two steps forward taking third spot while Emirates collected their first point since the start of the competition. Asamoah Gyan of Ghana scored for the visiting team off a penalty kick in the 26 th minute and Al Hassan Kieta leveled the score in the 79 th minute.

There were no dangerous chances in the opening minutes of the game except that sitter squandered by Asamoah only 11 minutes from the start when his shot flew over the cross bar. The Emirates replied with another opportunity four minutes later when Kieta's volley went just near the upright.

Al Ain controlled the game after scoring their lone goal but they lost two successive chances through Ismail Ahmed who missed the target off a perfect header and Asamoah who also failed to score despite of the shaky display and severe errors committed by the Emirates team.

Most of the two teams' performance was concentrated on the midfield zone after the break without any dangerous chances for the two coaches to make several substitutions.

Emirates brought the game to the golden square via Al Hassan Kieta 11 minutes before the end of the match who benefited off a defensive blunder after al Ain's players failed to clear the ball away. The Emirates' performance was bettered afterwards to put more pressure on their rivals defense line, but Al Ain were strong enough to spoil all of the host team's attempts. The two teams continued their attempts but the result remained without any change till the end of the game.

In the second match of the day Ajman defeated Sharjah 3/2 at Rashid Bin Saeed Stadium in Ajman to raise their balance to 7 points to stay on top of the table provisionally while the losers preserve their previous two-point balance.