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Lady Luck smiled on Al Jazira as the Arabian Gulf League toppers huffed and puffed their way to a solitary goal win over Sharjah at the Sharjah Club on Saturday.
Leonardo Pereira did get the credit for the 23rd minute goal but it was more of a self goal from Sharjah's Yousif Saeed who inadvertently nodded the Brazilian's free-kick past his goalkeeper Mohamed Yousef.
The win tightened The Pride of Abu Dhabi's stranglehold on the league standings with 41 points from 16 matches. And, none other than their coach Henk Ten Cate was happy with the result.
"We didn't play well today but somebody up there - looking upwards -- likes us a lot," said the Dutchman at the post match conference. "We started well in the first half but Sharjah were better in the second. We knew we would have problems in the air as Sharjah have tall players. But we stole three points and that's what matters. "We are living a dream and the dream continues," added the ecstatic coach.
Sharjah, on the other hand, continue to remain in the bottom five. They should have moved up two places but Omar Juma, Yousif Saeed, Rivas and Rodrigo squandered umpteen chances in the second half much to the disbelief of their supporters and coach Jose Peseiro.
But the Portuguese coach managed to keep his calm after the match. In fact he had words of praise for his players. "We deserved to win and that too ... easily. We were much better than Jazira," he said after the match. "We created enough opportunities to beat them but they won which they didn't deserve to. However, I'm happy with the players," he added.
A sizeable crowd travelled all the way from the Capital to Sharjah and they not only out-numbered the home supporters but were also more vocal.
Yet, the Jazira players were struggling to find their rhythm, but as luck would have it, they found themselves ahead by the 23rd minute when Leonardo Pereira's curling free-kick was headed into his own net by Yousif Saeed.
The tempo of the match picked up after that and Leonardo tested Mohamed Yousef in the Sharjah goal with a 25-yard crisp shot which the goalkeeper responded with aplomb.
It was Yousef again who came to Sharjah's rescue - this time a shot from close by Ailton Almeida was tipped away at the last minute.
At the other end Saeed looked desperate to cancel the goal he conceded and almost brought Sharjah on level terms but after doing some good work in the six-yard box he hastily kicked wide.
That miss could have proved costly had their goalkeeper Yousef not shown good reflexes at the other end in parrying a goalbound shot away from Ailton.
But Sharjah looked a transformed side after the breather and should have equalised, if not won, had it not been for Ali Kasheif's superb saves under the Jazira goal.
clareto@khaleejtimes.com
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