Al Dhafra stun Al Jazira; Ajman held by Emirates
dubai — Al Jazira dropped valuable points in the title race as they suffered a 3-2 defeat to Al Dhafra at Hamdan bin Zayed Stadium in matchweek 12 of the Arabian Gulf League on Tuesday.
Al Dhafra, who are looking to move further away from the relegation zone, opened the scoring in the 26th minute. Romulo dos Santos found Humaid Abdulla Almesmari’s long pass and the Brazilian capitalised on mistakes from the defence and the keeper as he dribbled past them and slotted it home.
Al Jazira kicked off the second half in a strong manner and looked focused on leveling up the scoreline, launching attacks through Leonardo Pereira and Ali Mabkhout. They came close to netting the equaliser in the 51st minute when Sebastien Siani crossed the ball accurately into the box but Mabkhout’s first-time shot went wide.
In an attempt to boost their attacking options, Abdallah Ramadan and Ernest Asante came on to replace Al Attas and Mohamed Jamal around the one-hour mark.
Soon after, it was Al Dhafra who had the upper hand, with the hosts causing danger through Romulo dos Santos and Almansoori. With 12 minutes to go, Romulo doubled his tally and scored his side’s second goal of the game. The Brazilian found Almesmari’s cross inside the box and calmly headed the ball into the left corner of the net.
Only two minutes from time, Mabkhout reduced the deficit for the guests to keep their hopes of salvaging a point alive.
Al Dhafra responded instantly and extended their lead again with Romulo completing his hat trick.
Al Jazira refused to wave the white flag as they were awarded a penalty in the seventh minute of injury time. Mabkhout scored from the spot but it wasn’t enough for the Pride of Abu Dhabi to overcome Al Dhafra.
Al Dhafra now sit eighth on 13 points, while Al Jazira are frozen on 25 points in third place.
Meanwhile, second-half substitute Husam Loutfy netted a late equaliser as Emirates Club held Ajman to a 1-1 draw at Emirates Club Stadium.
Emirates, who are in dire need for a positive result, had a slight advantage on ball possession and were more effective than their guests’ on goal in the first 45 minutes. They, however, failed to find the back of the net as Abubakar Sylla and Waleed Ambar had their efforts denied by Ajman keeper Ali Mohamed Ali.
On the other side of the pitch, Stanley Nka was Ajman’s most dangerous player but couldn’t give his side the lead before the break.