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Al Dhafra surprise Al Nasr with a solitary-goal win; Al Shabab surpass Dubai 3-1
Al Dhafra surprised their guests Al Nasr beating them with a solitary goal. It was the first victory for the hosts’ team under the guidance and supervision of their new French coach Laurent Banide who replaced ex Bosnian coach Jamal Haji. The winners raised their tally to 14 points against 22 for the losers.
The two teams played the opening minutes with great care and open eyes which saw some attempts with the hosts looked the better side. Only 12 minutes have passed before Saif Mohammed scored the first goal of the match with a left footer off a stand ball when the Ivorian player Amara Diane was fouled outside the box. Affected by this early goal, Al Nasr started looking for a come back into the game and their first dangerous attempt came with a severe shot fired by the Italian striker Guseppe Mascara in the 18th minute but it missed the target.
The winners missed the efforts of their Omani foreign midfielder Fawzi Basheir who was red carded after collecting two yellow cards in only 23 minutes for his side to play the remaining time with ten players. Al Nasr tried to make use of this sent off to double their work and increase their attacks amid a retreat of Al Dhafra’s players who tried to close all the gaps on the face of their rivals’ strikers. Mascara made two successive attempts but both were saved by the goalkeeper Khalid Al Sinani.
Al Nasr put more pressure on their rivals’ defense in the last minutes but all their attempts were spoiled by Al Dhafra’s defenders and the keeper Al Sinani. Mascara came close to end the first half with a 1-1 draw when he faced the advancing custodian and hooked the ball over his head for the defender Hazaa Salem to appear suddenly and cleared the ball away before it crosses the goal line.
Al Nasr created some brilliant chances in the beginning of the second half but could not make use of them. The most real opportunity was squandered by the Iraqi midfielder Nashat Akram when he launched a close-range strong shot four minutes after the break but the ball was blocked by Al Dhafra’s goalie. Amara Diane also lost a similar chance in the 63rd minute when his attempt was controlled by the keeper Abdullah Mousa.
The losers pressed hard in the last half hour and made several forays but Al Dhafra’s defenders stood solid on their way till the end of the game.
In the other encounter played at Maktoum bin Rashid Stadium in Dubai, Al Shabab beat Dubai 3-1 to take their record to 17 points that put them in 8th position while Dubai slipped to 9th spot with 15 points. Essa Obaid scored a brace for Al Shabab in the 19th and 52nd minutes and Brazilian Ciel added the third four minutes into stoppage time while Rami Yaslam netted his team’s lone goal in the 92nd minute.