Al Jazira come from behind to beat Kalba

Ali Mabkhout and Zayed Al Ameri scored in second half as Al Jazira came from a goal down to pip Kalba 3-2 at Mohammad Bin Zayed Stadium in mathweek 5 of the Arabian Gulf League on Sunday.

The Pride of Abu Dhabi came knocking early in the game, as they nearly opened the scoring in the fourth minute through Milos Kosanovic, whose freekick effort missed the target by a narrow margin.

The host continued to press and in the 18th minute, Omar Abdulrahman sent the ball to Ali Mabkhout. The number 7’s right footed strike was tipped by Jamal Al Sarrah to hit the woodwork before going out for the corner kick.

Against the run of play, Kalba took the lead just four minutes after the restart. Balazs Dzsudzsak sent a long cross from the corner kick near the far post, Peniel Mlapa headed the ball towards Henrique Buss, who volleyed into the back of the net.

In the 62nd minute, the Tigers suffered a huge blow as they were reduced to 10 men after Al Sarrah was shown a red card after his careless challenge on Mabkhout.

The hosts capitalised on the numerical advantage, as Mabkhout scored from the rebound after Abdulrahman’s initial long range strike was improperly handled by Kalba’s substitute goalkeeper Mohamed Al Bloushi in the 74th minute.

Al Jazira completed the comeback in the 83rd minute through super sub Khalfan Mubarak, who was left with a simple tap in from a close range after the rebound fell for the midfielder following a poor save from Bloushi.

Just five minutes later, Mabkhout continued to impress as turned from scorer to provider when he released Zayed Al Ameri behind Kalba defence after a perfectly-built counter attack. The number 20 finished calmly into the back of the net.

In the fifth minute of injury time, Kalba reduced the deficit through Mlapa, who converted Buss’ cross past Ali Khaseif with a powerful header.

After the win, Al Jazira occupy fourth place with ten points ahead of their anticipated clash against Al Ain. Meanwhile, Kalba dropped to the 13th spot with just three points before hosting Bani Yas in matchweek.

Al Wasl registered their first win of the season as they defeated Al Dhafra 2-1 at Hamdan Bin Zayed Stadium in an early match of the day.

The Cheetahs started on the front foot, taking the lead in the 15th minute through Fabio de Lima. The Brazilian was left with an easy header from a close range after Ali Saleh’s initial freekick strike hit the woodwork.

Around the 40-minute mark, Lima found Welliton with a long through pass. The number 11 controlled the ball and went past Issam El Adoua before drilling the ball into the bottom corner to make it 2-0.