Vieira denies Bani Yas win
dubai — Ajman’s Vander Vieira struck a penalty four minutes from time to deny Bani Yas a victory in the Arabian Gulf Cup in Ajman on Tuesday.
Vieira, who spent one season with Sharjah before moving to Ajman, was spot on with his spot kick as The Orange Brigade held out for a 1-1 draw in the Group A fixture at the Rashid bin Saeed Stadium.
Newly-promoted Bani Yas were on course for a win after former Melbourne Victory winger Leroy George had given the Sky Blues the lead on 23 minutes. But the 29-yearold Vieira made no mistake from the spot as Ajman stole a draw.
Elsewhere, the managerial change seemed to have worked at Ittihad Kalba with the promoted club holding out for a goalless stalemate against highly-fancied Al Wasl, in another Group A match. Ittihad Kalba had replaced Brazilian Jorvan Vieira with Italian Fabio Viviani after their Arabian Gulf League defeat to Al Wahda in the opening week. And they managed to stave off the challenge from a strong Al Wasl side at the Zabeel Stadium.
The Arabian Gulf Cup takes centre stage this week and the next because of Fifa Match Days.
Bani Yas were up and running against the hosts with George cleverly tucking his freekick under the wall and past goalkeeper Hamad Khalid on 23 minutes after Abdallah Boashan was brought down by Khaled Nasser. And Krunoslav Jurcic’s men could have added cushion to that lead on the half hour but Robson de Paula saw his header sail across the goal following a pass from George.
Ajman came close to cancelling out the lead on 49 minutes but Mohamed Rashed drilled his freekick way over the cross bar. They kept at it and had another opportunity on 57 minutes but shot stopper Mohamed Ahmed Al Hammadi pulled off a fine save to deny Nasser following a pass from Stanley Ohawuchi.
Bani Yas, who had returned to the UAE top flight after being crowned the First Division champions, were in sight of a first victory following a 1-1 stalemate against fellow returnees Fujairah in the Arabian Gulf League. But Ohawuchi was brought down inside the box by Faisal Al Antali and referee Ahmed Hassan Al Hammadi pointed to the spot. And Vieira needed no second invitation, firing it past Al Hammadi.