Al Dhafra fight back to deny Al Jazira
Defending champions fail to fire again as Sharjah fall against Hatta
Defending champions Al Jazira continued with their suspect form, as they were held by Al Dhafra, while Hatta piled on the misery for struggling Sharjah in the Arabian Gulf League (AGL) yesterday.
After back-to-back defeats against Dibba and Al Nasr, Al Jazira wasted a two-goal advantage to settle for a 2-2 away draw against Al Dhafra, while Hatta rode on a fine second-half brace from Fernando Gabriel for a 3-2 win against Sharjah.
The results resulted in very little movement for the four teams in the AGL table, but Hatta moved up to 10th place with their first points of the season, while Al Dhafra and Al Jazira remained in eighth and ninth places respectively.
In a far-flung corner of Abu Dhabi, Al Jazira were in a hurry and it showed when they raced 2-0 clear within the opening 11 minutes. It was the energetic Khalfan Mubarak giving the defending champions the lead in the fifth minute when he lent a first-time touch following a crisp ball inside the area from Brazilian Romarinho.
The former Corinthians player showed his quality as a striker when he jostled past two defenders in the 11th minute and curled in a beauty to the far left corner giving Al Dhafra goalkeeper Zayed Al Hammadi no chance.
No giving up
But the home side did not give up and were duly rewarded with a goal in the 22nd minute when Brazilian Ailton Almeida headed in a corner from Ahmad Al Abri.
Al Dhafra managed an equaliser on the stroke of half time with a top-class goal from Sultan Abdul Aziz Al Suwaidi.
The former Al Jazira player accepted a deft touch from Almeida, took a defender in his stride and struck hard to find the far corner of the goal.
In the second match played in Hatta, the home team took the lead in the 28th minute after Sabeel Al Madani prodded home from close following a cross from the right flank. But Sharjah — who had come in following two successive losses — drew level deep into first-half injury time when Omar Juma followed through on a well-taken freekick and hammered into the top corner of the Hatta goal.
Hatta managed to find a second goal midway through the second half when Fernando Gabriel coolly slotted home following a move from the right in the 69th minute. But, the visitors got an equaliser when Wellington Soares scored four minutes from the final whistle. However, Gabriel sealed the first points for his team when he scored his second of the evening and deny Sharjah a second point this season.