Ajman hold Al Wahda; Al Orooba beat Bani Yas
DUBAI: Ajman and Al Wahda shared the points in an encounter that finished 2-2 at the Rashid Bin Saeed Stadium in matchweek 23 of the ADNOC Pro League.
Ajman saw their points tally rise to 29 which put them in seventh place, while Al Wahda’s reached 46 meaning their title challenge has mathematically come to an end, seeing as they are nine points behind leaders Al Ain with three games to go.
Al Ain are on the verge of winning the Pro League title with three matches still to go in the season but need to get past titleholders Al Jazira on Wednesday.
Al Ain have a superior head to head record on the Abu Dhabi based side.
The Pro League leaders enter the game with high morale ater clinching the Pro League Cup title and they have not suffered any home defeat during the ongoing season, while the Pride of Abu Dhabi hope to continue their winning streak and maintain their position in the table.
Omar Khribin threatened first but Ajman keeper Ali Al Hosani parried away behind him for a corner.
At the other end of the pitch, Waleed Al Yamahi charged into the penalty area and fired away but Mohamed Al Shamsi was more than equal to it.
Hosani once again saved from Khribin ater 22 minutes of play.
The Syrian striker, lively throughout, came close to scoring ater 34 minutes of play when he slammed a shot from range goal wards but his shot was slightly off-target, just missing the frame of the goal. Two minutes later, Joao Pedro hit the post ater managing a shot while unmarked.
The deadlock was eventually broken in the 62nd minute by the hosts when Firas Belarbi netted his eighth goal of the season from the spot.
This is more than he scored in the previous campaign, which saw him, net seven goals.
Al Wahda equalised 15 minutes later through Fabio Martins who sloted home Pedro’s cross, a ball that Hosani couldn’t deal with properly.
Ajman took the lead once again through Leandro Spadacio who took Oualid Azarou’s pass before firing home with 11 minutes of play let.
Belarbi missed a golden chance to go further ahead when he skied a shot in the closing stages, before legendary forward Ismael Matar equalised for the final time deep into stoppage time to salvage a point for his team.
In another match, Mohamed Khalfan struck late in injury time to earn Al Orooba a 2-1 win over Bani Yas at the Fujairah Stadium.
Six minutes ater the break, the hosts took the lead when Khalid Yahya swung in a brilliant cross from a corner into the penalty area, where Yusuf Olatunji turned it into the back of the net with a powerful header.
Bani Yas restored parity eight minutes ater the hour-mark when Sasa Ivkovic met Gaston Suarez’ cross with a powerful header into the top right corner.
Khalfan picked the ball in the let wing of the penalty area, before launching a strike into the top right corner of the net for the winner.