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Al Jazira put Al Shaab’s survival on hold with 2-0 win

Al Jazira did opponents Al Shaab no favours in their fight for survival as they ran out 2-0 winners at the Mohammed bin Zayed Stadium in Round 24 of the Etisalat Pro League. Goals from Ricardo Oliveira and Fernandinho were enough to make the difference, in a game which would have secured Pro League safety for Al Shaab if they had managed to win. Combined with Dibba Al Fujairah’s victory over Al Ahli tonight, the relegation battle will not be concluded this round as Al Shaab sit 12th in the League on 21 points with Dibba now just 4 points behind them with two games to go. Al Jazira, meanwhile, increased their points tally to 43 and can now look ahead to Tuesday’s Etisalat Cup final.

Al Jazira took the first initiative in the game as Ali Mabkhout rose in the area but couldn’t head Ricardo Oliveira’s cross on target in the 9th minute. Al Shaab responded as Michael Laurent Ndri forced a reflex save from Al Jazira goalkeeper Ali Khaseif in the 13th minute, but two minutes later Ricardo Oliveira flashed a left-footed shot just wide of the far post at the other end. In the 20th minute Al Shaab’s goalkeeper Mutaz Abdulla made a vital double save from Oliveira and Ali Mabkhout’s follow-up to keep the scores level. The 25th minute saw an important block by Al Jazira defender Salem Masoud to turn Ndri’s shot behind for a corner as the game developed in an end-to-end fashion, and Al Shaab were once again thwarted by Ali Khaseif on the stroke of half time as the keeper stayed strong to keep Hassan Maatouk’s effort out and send the teams in tied at 0-0 at the break.

The home side started the second half with purpose as visiting goalkeeper Mutaz Abdulla was forced to palm Ricardo Oliveira’s goal-bound effort away just three minutes after the restart, and in the 52nd minute Al Jazira’s superiority finally told as they made the breakthrough. Oliveira’s constant harrying finally paid off as he was put through by Argentine midfielder Matias Delgado and the Brazilian made no mistake in slotting a right-footed finish across goal to put Al Jazira 1-0 up. Ali Mabkhout almost doubled the lead a minute later but Mutaz Abdulla did well to turn his shot behind for a corner as Al Jazira began to exert their dominance on the game. In the 58th minute, however, Al Shaab had a great opportunity to get back on level terms but Michael Laurent Ndri was unable to equalise. With only a narrow lead, Al Jazira continued in search of a second goal and left-back Abdullah Mousa was keen to get forward in attack, working the Al Shaab goalkeeper in the 71st minute. Two minutes later Ali Khaseif gathered comfortably from Filipe Teixeira’s indirect shot from a free kick as Al Shaab tried to get something from the game, but despite their best efforts the result was killed off in the 86th minute as substitute Fernandinho completed a simple tap-in from Oliveira’s assist to make it 2-0.