Ajman hold Sharjah; Al Dhafra win

Mohammad Abdullah, Staff Reporter

Sharjah continued their unbeaten run in the Arabian Gulf League (AGL) with 1-1 draw against Ajman in a tenth round match on Thursday.

After the draw, Sharjah extended their lead at the top, amassing 24 points in 10 games while Ajman are on the 12th spot with nine points from ten games.

Sharjah captain Coronado broke the deadlock in the 66th minute to the hosts ahead. But,14 minutes later, William Owusu scored an equalizer in the 80th minute to restore parity.

Earlier, Ajman played attacking football in the first 20 minutes and came close to scoring many times. In the ninth minute, Ajman’s Bubacarr Trawally left-footed a shot from the left side of the box but it missed the net and was deflected to the left side by the pole of the goal post.

In the 24th minute, Coronado’s shot was blocked by Ajman’s goalkeeper brilliantly to keep the leaders at bay.

Both the team’s pressed hard to score the first goal and take lead but the first half ended in 0-0.

In the other matches, Al Dhafra stunned Al Ain 2-1and Fujairah defeated Bani Yas 1-0. For Al Dhafra, Diego Marcel and Jao Pedro scored goals in 27th and 60th minute respectively while Al Ain’s only goal was scored by Caio Canedo. Abdullah Al Noubi was on target for Fujairah against Bank Yas, scoring the lone goal of the match to hand them a well-deserved victory.

Meanwhile, Shabab Al Ahli look to close gap on leaders Sharjah with victory over rock-bottom Khorfakkan on Friday.

Shabab Al Ahli are on the second spot with 20 points from nine games. They have won six, drawn two and lost one match.

Khorfakkan are at the bottom of the league with just four points after nine games.

They are yet to taste a victory in the league after suffering five losses and procuring four draws from their nine games. Shabab Al Ahli coach ‎Rodolfo Arruabarrena warned his players against any kind of complacency in Khorfakkan match.

 “We are required to focus more in such matches as there is a chance of running away with all three points. It is not a secret to anyone that the match is difficult and we need a great effort to win it, especially because of the tight schedule. And what makes it more difficult is the fact that we are hardly getting time to prepare for the next match because of back-to-back games.

“We are facing a good team that consists of a group of distinguished players. Khorfakkan have played good football in many games since the beginning of the season. Though they are yet to win a match in the league and are lying at the bottom of standings, it does not reflect the reality of their level and they deserve a better position,” said Arruabarrena.

 “As a technical staff, we are always keen to find out our mistakes continuously, and we study our mistakes in order to correct them. Our goal is to compete in all tournaments and raise our standard in every game. It is still too early to talk about winning the championship, so we deal with each match one by one,” he informed.