Al Ain pile more misery on Ajman; Fujairah win

Al Ain bounced back from their defeat to Bani Yas to beat struggling Ajman 2-0 at the Rashid Bin Saeed Stadium in matchweek 22 of the Arabian Gulf League on Sunday.

Al Ain looked more dangerous in the early phases of the first half and their pressure eventually paid off as they opened the scoring on the 15-minute mark.

Mohamed Abbas capitalised on a defensive error to tap the ball home and hand the away side a 1-0 lead.

The Boss waited until the 86th minute to seal the win when Laba Kodjo fired a powerful effort from outside the box to put Al Ain 2-0 up.

Al Ain returned to winning ways and earned their 10th victory of the league season, as they raised their tally to 37 points in sixth place. Meanwhile, Ajman’s miserys were compounded by dropping to 13th place with 11 points following Fujairah’s win over Al Nasr.

Fujairah boost survival bid: Fujairah bolstered their hopes of league survival by beating Al Nasr 2-0 at Fujairah Stadium in another match of the day.

Mohamed Mustafa gave the hosts an early lead as he headed the ball home in the 13th minute to hand Fujairah a 1-0 advantage into halftime.

Douglas Coutinho connected with Abdulla Nasser’s pass from inside the box, sending an effort into the back of the net to double the home side’s lead just five minutes after the restart.

Fujairah kept a clean sheet for the first time since matchweek 6 when they defeated Hatta 1-0. They earned their first-ever win over Al Nasr in the league and moved up to 12th place on 14 points, three above relegation rivals Ajman. On the other hand, Al Nasr dropped to fifth place with 39 points.

Bani Yas down Hatta: Bani Yas ascended to the top of the league standings - albeit temporarily - after beating Hatta 1-0 at Bani Yas Stadium on Saturday.

Bani Yas took the lead just two minutes before the half-hour mark when Nicolas Gimenez fired a powerful effort into the back of the net to score what turned out to be the winning goal.

Hatta missed a chance to quickly level the scoreline when Nahir Besara’s header went inches above the bar only two minutes later. On the other hand, Hatta keeper Mohamed Waleed denied Gimenez from scoring his second of the night in the 37th minute.

Although Hatta controlled possession in the second half, they failed to find the back of the net. Bani Yas keeper Fahad Al Dhanhani pulled off a fine save 10 minutes from time to maintain the hosts’ 1-0 advantage.

Bani Yas climbed to the top of the standings with 48 points, only one clear of Al Jazira who still have a game in hand, as they are scheduled to face Al Wahda on Sunday.

Meanwhile, Hatta missed another chance to revive their survival chances as they remained at the bottom with only eight points.