Hat-trick heroes De Lima and Caio star in Al Wasl’s big win

Sharjah firm at the top with victory over Al Ain in Round 8 of AGL

The old combination of Caio Canedo and Fabio De Lima rediscovered their scoring touch as Al Wasl stemmed the rot with a 6-3 drubbing of 10-man Fujairah after Sharjah had consolidated their position at the top the previous night with a 2-1 result against defending champions Al Ain in Round 8 action of the Arabian Gulf League (AGL).

The away win helped Sharjah open up a narrow twopoint gap at the top of the table from Al Jazira — who were surprisingly held 3-3 by Dibba in yesterday’s early match.

In Wednesday’s action, Sharjah nosed ahead in the 24th minute when Welliton Soares found the net to climb in first position of the topscorers’ list. The visitors doubled the score just past the hour when Igor Coronado converted from the spot.

The home team pulled one back in the 67th minute after striker Marcus Berg found the far corner. Al Ain managed a second goal, but the referee ruled it offside as Sharjah returned home with 20 points.

Yesterday, Al Wasl got their hands on full points for only the third time this season after having lost in their last three encounters. The Cheetahs had fallen to Al Dhafra (2-1), against neighbours Al Nasr (3-1) and last week against Shabab Al Ahli Dubai (3-2).

Coming in handy for the home team was the evergreen scoring combination between De Lima and Canedo that saw the Brazilian duo get three goals each.