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Gritty Sharjah hold hosts Al Ain

Ten-man Sharjah held hosts Al Ain to a 1-1 draw in the third round of the Pro-league at Tahnoon bin Mohammed Stadium in Al Ain City on Friday.

Jose Sand put Al Ain in the lead before the break and Marcellinho levelled the result in the 80^th minute of the tough encounter. Al Ain settled in the second position on goal difference behind arch rivals Al Jazira with defending champions Al Wahda and former champions Al Ahli already losing ground.

Al Zaiem’s line-up may have been minus high-profile absentees’ including keeper Waleed Salem, defender Ismail Ahmed and midfielder Shehab Ahmed, a few to mention — for differing reasons — but national coach Abdul Hameed Al Mistiki was still able to make his way through with a star-studded team.

Ali Al Weihibi tested Sharjah’s keeper Mahmoud Al Mas with a brilliant overhead backward in the 25^th minute, before a lack of communication between Al Mas and his defence line resulted in a mid-air collision with Al Ain’s Argentinean striker Jose Sand ahead of the six-yard box. UAE referee Ammar Al Junaibi pointed to the spot and showed Al Mas a controversial red card.

After the team was reduced to 10-man, the Portuguese coach Kajuda was left with no choice but to pull out midfielder Humaid Ahmed and replace him with the second keeper Rashid Ahmed.

However, the Argentinean record-breaking scorer Jose Sand spared no effort to put his side in the lead.

Sharjah made every move to fight back without much success upfront. Kajuda interfered twice and his move paid dividends 10 minutes before the final whistle. Referee Ammar Al Junaibi awarded Sharjah a penalty kick when Al Ain defender Muhanad Al Enazi brought down Sharjah striker and the ruthless Brazilian striker Marcellinho made no mistake from the spot.

In Dubai, hosts Al Shabab cruised to an overwhelming 4-0 victory over Al Dhafra at Maktoum bin Rashid Stadium. Lamin Diarra opened the scoring for the home team in the 41^st minute after a good work by Villanueva on the right flank. In the 57^th minute, Julio Cesar operated inside the box and sent a spoon-fed cross to Dawood Ali to double the score-line before Cesar added the third goal in the 74^th minute. Villanueva fired home a long range shot two minutes into injury time to make it 4-0.