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Kalba revive hopes to avoid relegation

 

Kalba revived their hopes to avoid relegation to first division following their 2-1 deserved victory over Bani Yas in their Etisalat Pro-League round 15 match held at the winners' ground this evening. They raised their tally to 11 points; two points and one point behind Dubai and Al Dhafra respectively. The visiting team have lost three valuable points to widen the difference between them and leaders Al Jazira to ten points, but they are still staying in the second place with 29 points. They will host Al Jazira in the next round at their ground in Al Shamkha on April 15 and a second defeat might dash their hopes in the league title struggle.

The visitors were the better side after controlling the first session giving the hosts hard time with their dynamic player Diyab Awana being a constant threat for the winners' defense line despite of being tightly marked by Kalba's defender Jawhar Musabah. Kalba demonstrated poor display before the break and they couldn't create even a single scoring chance after relying heavily on counter attacks. The visiting team's goalkeeper Mohammad Ali Gholoom made a severe blunder when he could not control the long ball came from the hosts' back line. The ball passed him and his defense as well for Mohammad Mallah to head it into the empty net but for his bad fortune it missed the target. Bani Yas's continuous raids were rewarded when Andre Sangahoor from Senegal put them in the lead one minute before the end of the first half. He sent a severe volley off Diyab Awana's through pass to score their lone goal in the game. Sengahoor raised his tally to 14 goals to top the scores' table.

The technical standard of both teams was totally different in the second half as they exerted more efforts trying to net more goals. They created a good number of opportunities but they failed to score. The first threat by the home squad came in the 60th minute when Gregory received a lovely pass, rounded up a defender before sending a weak shot that was easily controlled by the goalie Mohammed Ali Gholoom. Sengahoor was to score his second goal had not for Kalba's custodian who saved the ball brilliantly one minute later. But the most dangerous chance was squandered by Bani Yas's midfielder Fawzi Basheir from Oman when he rounded up three defenders before facing Kalba's goalkeeper Mohammad Osman, but he sent the ball into Osman's hands in the 63rd minute.

The home team pressed hard making good efforts, creating handful of chances but failed to level the score. Their striker Mohammad Malallah came close to bring the game back to the first square but his close-range shot was deflected by the goalie for a defender to clear it away four minutes later.

Elyas Di Oliveira (Kanoo) scored the equalizer in the 77th minute off Malallah's perfect pass and his teammate Gregory netted the winner in the last minute of the injury time to secure a 2-1 win for Kalba.