Shabab Al Ahli hit Ajman for five; Lima helps Al Wasl edge Hatta

Shabab Al Ahli successfully held their position at the top of the Arabian Gulf League after a huge well-deserved win in matchweek 19 of the Arabian Gulf League at Rashid Bin Saeed Stadium on Friday.

The first 30 minutes of the match were unfruitful as both teams failed to turn any attack into a goal.

In the 34th minute, Leonardo made an outstanding cross that ended with Ahmed Khalil who rifled the ball into Ali Al Hosani’s net bringing the score to 1-0 for Shabab Al Ahli.

After less than 10 minutes, Yousef Jaber dribbled past Ajman’s defence then made a long pass to Federico Cartabia. The number 99 crossed the ball to Leonardo who rifled it into the back of Al Hosani’s net adding another goal fir Shabab Al Ahli in the 44th minute.

Vander Vieira made a short cross to William Owusu, who converted it into a goal bringing the Oranges score one goal closer to a draw in the 51st minute with a 2-1 score.

In the 64th minute, Vieira scored a second goal for the Oranges after they got awarded a penalty kick when Leonardo changed the course of the ball with his hand, thus, bringing the game to a draw. However, in the 75th minute, Ajman suffered a huge blow when their goal scorer Vieira made a second-bookable offence only to be sent off the field bringing down the Oranges to 10 players only. Vieira’s offence awarded Shabab Al Ahli a penalty which was then converted into a goal by Cartabia.

To make matters worse, Abdullah Al Naqbi’s powerful shot was met by Khalid Nasser who tried to clear the ball off the field only for it to hit Mohammed Sabeel’s body and bounce into the back of his own net in the 83rd minute.

No more than 2 minutes later, Khalil scored a fifth goal for Shabab Al Ahli in the 85th minute after an outstanding dribble by Cartabia, who then passed the ball to Khalil who fired a long-range rocket into Al Hosani’s net bringing the score up to 5-2. Following Shabab Al Ahli’s big win, they fortified their position at the top of the league with 14 points ahead of their next match against Al Dhafra while Ajman stayed in the10th spot with only 18 points.

Meanwhile, Lima scored a brace as Al Wasl edged Hatta 3-2, at Hamdan Bin Rashed Stadium.

Al Wasl started on the front foot, when Fabio De Lima went past Hatta’s defenders, however, his powerful left footed strike cannoned off the woodwork in the 15th minute.

Lima was once again the centre of attention for Al Wasl, as he broke the deadlock just two minutes later. The forward dribbled cleverly past Waleed Siraj and slotted the ball past Darwish bin Habib.  The Tornado responded immediately, as they leveled things up in the 19th minute through Samuel Rosa, who converted Abdullah Abdulqader’s accurate cross with a composed header.

Al Wasl regained their lead less than two minutes after conceding, through Lima who completed his brace. The number 10 brilliantly controlled Haboush Saleh’s defence-splitting through pass and smashed the ball into the back of the net.

In the 40th minute, Rosa turned from scorer to producer when he set up the ball for Abdullah Kazim, whose strike left Humaid Abdullah helpless after a huge deflection off George Dwubeng.

Nine minutes after the restart, Saleh registered his second assist of the night when his perfectly-weighted through pass who met by Nasser Mahmoud, who finished calmly past Habib.

The Tornado tried to score the equaliser but failed to create any real threats until the referee blew the fulltime whsitle.

Following the victory, Al Wasl moved to the sixth spot with 29 points ahead of their clash against Al Wahda.

Meanwhile, Hatta occupy the 13th spot with 13 points before hosting Fujairah in matchweek 20 of the Arabian Gulf League.