Hatta win battle of minnows to reach President Cup semis

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Hatta win battle of minnows to reach President Cup semis
Sebastian Sacha of Emirates in battle with Mousa Al Bloushi of Hatta during the President's Cup at Al Nasr Club.

Dubai - Hatta are learning life in the UAE top flight

By James Jose

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Published: Thu 5 Jan 2017, 8:29 PM

Last updated: Thu 5 Jan 2017, 10:34 PM

As one would expect, a new team would take a bit of time to find their feet among the big boys. And as has been the case, Hatta are learning life in the UAE top flight.
But then, the new boys continue to impress in the President's Cup. The team from the pristine mountainous region are scaling heights and now find themselves in the semifinal of the prestigious competition.
After coming through a tough Round 1 against Al Dhafra, last time out, Gjoko Hadzievski's men rallied brilliantly from a goal down to defeat 10-man Emirates 2-1 in the quarterfinal at the Al Maktoum Stadium on Thursday night.
Moroccan midfielder Mourad Batna had put Emirates well on the way on 19 minutes but Samuel Rosa, on loan from Brazilian club Fluminense, cancelled that out on 28 minutes.
Hatta then found their mojo with the impressive Maher Jasem Al Balooshi giving Hatta the lead on 32 minutes, and that stayed until the end. It was Emirates though who had started brightly with their Argentine striker Sebastian Sacha's header, off a corner, going wide of the post, on four minutes. Midfielder Alhusain Saleh then saw his freekick from the right, run into a wall, on 10 minutes.
All Hatta had until then was a long-ranged freekick which the goalkeeper Ali Saqr collected with ease.  But a mistake at the other end was to prove costly for Hatta.
Nikolai David tripped Batna just outside the box and the Moroccan picked himself and dusted himself off to tuck in the freekick past the stationary Hatta goalkeeper Obid Raihan.
Hatta, though, didn't let that affect them too much and bounced back on 28 minutes after Maher Jasem, who was outstanding on the night, had done the spadework.
Jasem stole the ball from the left and teed it up perfectly and Rosa headed it one bounce and into the net. After that impressive assist, Maher Jasem too got into the act. The Emirati received a pass from Khamis Al Ajmani from the right, controlled it, turned around and fired it home.
Adnan Al Balooshi could have increased the cushion on 36 minutes but his fierce volley was kept out by Ali Saqr.
Emirates tried hard to make a match of it with Sacha coming up with twin chances on 52 minutes and just past the hour.
First, he managed to slip into the box but the Hatta defence made the clearance in time before the Argentine could take a crack at it. Then, Sacha's low header from a Khaled Khamis cross from the left, went agonizingly wide of the post.
Maher Jasem then saw his shot go wide of the far post following a solo from the left.


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