Tagliabue brace sinks Al Fujairah

Dubai - The 3-0 result and the 11th victory pushed 'The Clarets' momentarily up to third with Al Nasr and Al Wasl yet to play their round of matches.

Sebastian Tagliabue fired a brace after Ismail Matar's brilliant set piece as Al Wahda blanked Al Fujairah in the Arabian Gulf League at the Al Fujairah Stadium on Thursday night.
The 3-0 result and the 11th victory pushed 'The Clarets' momentarily up to third with Al Nasr and Al Wasl yet to play their round of matches.
Against the run of play, Al Wahda's talisman Ismail Matar fired a brilliant freekick home to give his side the lead at the stroke of half-time after which Sebastian Tagliabue scored on 50 and 75 minutes for the Argentine striker to go well clear in the goal scorers chart with 21 League goals this season.
Javier Aguirre's men have 35 points from 21 fixtures, 15 points behind leaders Al Ahli and 14 points behind second-placed Al Ain.
Meanwhile, Al Fujairah's flirtation with relegation continued with their 12th loss, and first under new coach Stepahen Ahmad, leaving the northern emirate side rooted one spot from the bottom with 19 points.
But it was they who began well in coming close to opening the scoring. Christophe Mandanne came up with a fine effort on 20 minutes but Al Wahda goalkeeper Adel Al Hosani did well to avert the danger from the French forward.
But danger still lurked with Patrick Eze pouncing on the rebound sent in by Mandanne, but the Nigerian striker couldn't direct his header well after finding himself in the best of positions.
While Al Fujairah were impressive with those efforts, it was Al Wahda who made the most of the opportunity that presented itself in the final minute of the half.
Ismail Matar was brought down by Al Fujairah captain Abdulla Malallah and the Al Wahda veteran fired his freekick from 30 yards out, into the top corner of the net past goalkeeper Mohammad Salem.
Having rested well during the break, a second duly arrived for Al Wahda, five minutes after the restart. Denilson sent in a precise pass and Tagliabue, who penned a contract extension last December that will see him at the Abu Dhabi club until 2018, directed it into the far post.
And with 15 minutes left Tagliabue rounded off a fine night for Al Wahda with his second and his side's third.
Al Fujairah threatened to reduce the margin through Mandanne but the Frenchman saw his effort saved by Adel Al Hosani. They ended the game with 10 men after Waleed Al Yammahi was sent off following a second booking.
james@khaleejtimes.com

Al Fujairah 0 (Yellow cards: Christophe Mandanne 31, Waleed Al Yammahi 61, Rashid Jalal 73. Red card: Waleed Al Yammahi 90) Al Wahda 3 (Goals: Ismail Matar 45, Sebastian Tagliabue 50, 75. Yellow card: Sultan Al Ghafri 46)