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Sharjah beat Al Ain 2-1 to take 4th position provisionally

 

Sharjah moved forward in the Etisalat Pro-League Competition to take 4th spot provisionally with 21 points following their 2-1 win over Al Ain in the second encounter of week 14 played this evening at the winners' pitch. The losers remain second from bottom with 11 points, three above Kalba who are sitting at the bottom of the ladder. All three goals were scored in the second session with Marcelo netting both goals for Sharjah and Faris Juma'a scoring Al Ain's lone goal.

After a balanced display that continued for ten minutes, Al Ain came to dominate the game and had almost took the lead when Ali Al Wihabi switched the ball from the right flank for Juma'a Saeed to miss the target. The two teams played the opening minutes with great care and much cautiousness fearing to concede an early goal. They made their best to create dangerous attacks that can lead them to score, but all their work could not help them to make it.

The visitors dominated the major parts of the first half as they reached the hosts' goal in many occasions. Al Ain's Brazilian striker Elyas Robero came close to slam the ball home but his fierce left- footer volley rebounded off the cross bar seven minutes before half time. Elyas also squandered another chance one minute into injury time from inside the box to end the first session with a goalless draw.

Against the run of the play, Sharjah took the lead only nine minutes after the break. Their Brazilian Marcelo collected the lead, advanced into the box, but brought down by defender Mohammed Salim and Marcelo made no mistake to give the home team the lead. Marcelo made it 2-0 with a long-range shot that beat the visitors' custodian. The losers' coach Gallo brought in midfielder Omar Abdul Rahman to replace injured defender Hazaa Salim. Al Ain doubled their efforts to reduce the deficit and come back to the match but all their work was in vain.

While Sharjah tried to score more goals to make things difficult for their rivals, Al Ain's Brazilian striker Elyas launched a strong shot that rebounded off the goalkeeper's hands before being cleared by a defender in the 65th minute. But Faris Juma'a made it 2-1 in the 74th minute when he headed home the ball that switched by Omar Abdul Rahman from the right flank. Al Ain's coach Gallo pulled out midfielder Ibrahima Keyta to field in Abdul Aziz Fayez. They put more pressure on the hosts' defenders and they came close to level the score, but they squandered all the attempts they created in the last minutes.