Bani Yas maintain unbeaten streak
dubai — Bani Yas stretched their unbeaten run to six matches by defeating Al Wasl in Week 15 of the Arabian Gulf League.
Goals from Colombian midfielder Michael Ortega and Dutch winger Leroy George gave the Sky Blues a 2-1 win at the Zabeel Stadium.
The consolation goal for The Cheetahs was scored by Caio Canedo, off a penalty.
Bani Yas continued their unbeaten run to six matches and this was their fourth win on the trot.
The standalone fixture was played out on Tuesday owing to The Cheetahs’ commitments in the Zayed Champions Cup.
Al Wasl take on Saudi Arabia’s Al Ahli in the first leg of their quarterfinal at the Zameel Stadium on Saturday.
After the opening minutes left checking each other out, Bani Yas had the first attempt of the match but Pedro Conde couldn’t quite get hold of his volley and fired it over the cross bar on 11 minutes.
Al Wasl responded to that with Ronaldo Mendes seeing his effort sail just over the woodwork on 14 minutes.
Al Wasl’s attempts centred around Mendes as Caio Canedo and Vinicius de Lima were kept in check by the Bani Yas defence.
Mendes had another opportunity four minutes later but his curling freekick from the left was kept out by goalkeeper Humaid Abdulla.
Bani Yas were clearly the most enterprising of the two with Conde’s clever chip inside the box, the standout as Humaid Abdulla rushed out and thwarted Suhail Ahmed on 21 minutes.
And their hard work wasn’t to go unnoticed with Michael Ortega slotting home from close range following Leroy George’s grounder from the left on 23 minutes.
Al Wasl were denied the leveller on the half hour as Mendes’ brilliant shot from the left skimmed the edge of the cross bar.
George, who was a dominant presence down the left flank turned from provider to scorer, with the former FC Utrecht and Melbourne Victory winger tucking it to the left of Humaid Abdulla on 36 minutes following a cross from Bani Yas’ long-standing captain Yousef Jaber.
The Cheetahs had one attempt before the break but Fabio de Lima sent his left-footer over the cross bar in stoppage time.
As would be expected, Al Wasl came back attacking in the second half but the Bani Yas backline soaked in the pressure.
They got a number of chances in open play as well as set pieces but Laurentiu Reghecampf ’s men couldn’t make them count.
The hosts did manage to reduce the margin through Caio Canedo, who a scored from a penalty with four minutes left on the clock following a VAR referral by referee Omar Mohamed AlAli.