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Gyan fires brace as Al Ain swamp Al Shaab

Asamoah Gyan fired a brace as Al Ain ran roughshod over basement dwellers Al Shaab in the 10th round of the Arabian Gulf League at the Tahnoun bin Mohammed Stadium in Al Ain on Sunday night.

The Ghanian, who had scored a hat-trick in Al Ain’s win over Al Sharjah in the President’s Cup, scored in the 24^th and 79^th minutes, while Mohanad Salem, Michel Bastos and Alex Brosque too put their name on the scoresheet as the defending champions won 5-2. Michael Laurent Ndri scored a double for Al Shaab in a losing cause as they suffered their eight reverse of the season.

Gyan’s two goals took his tally to 13 in the League and he tops the goal scorers chart. Their fifth win pushed the Garden City club to third on the table with 17 points, six points behind leaders Al Ahli, who have played a game less. Al Ahli are away at Al Wasl.

Sixth placed Bani Yas and seventh placed Al Sharjah have an opportunity to displace Al Ain. Both have 15 points and face off at the Al Sharjah Stadium, in a late game.

Al Ain began well and could have taken the lead just seven minutes into the game but Asamoah Gyan was way off target after a Michel Bastos cross.

Mohamed Abdulrahman, Omar Abdulrahman’s brother, came close twice on 11 and 16 minutes but his long rangers just whizzed over the cross bar. Al Ain took the lead on 24 minutes after Asamoah Gyan was brought down inside the box. Gyan made no mistake with the penalty, firing it to the left corner of the net.

Al Ain could have made it 2-0 on 37 minutes but Omar’s other brother Khaled Abdulrahman sent his attempt wide of the post. Two minutes later, Al Shaab goalkeeper Nasser Masood managed to keep away a Mohamed Abdulrahman freekick. Ismail Ahmed pounced on the rebound but his shot just went wide of the post. Al Shaab found the equalizer just a minute after the break after Michael Laurent Ndri headed home a Saoud Farak cross from the right.

But that was short-lived as Mohanad Salem gave Al Ain the lead again on 49 minutes, heading in a corner from Michel Bastos.

Then, Bastos added his name to the scoresheet by weaving past two defenders before firing it home on 56 minutes. Australian Alex Brosque added the fourth on the hour mark before Gyan finished it off with his second goal on 79 minutes. Michael Laurent Ndri scored his second goal a minute later.