Shabab Al Ahli and Al Wahda post wins

Federico Cartabia scored to snatch a hard-fought 1-0 victory for Shabab Al Ahli against Hatta, at Rashid Stadium in matchweek 14 of the Arabian Gulf League on Wednesday.

After a slow start, Shabab Al Ahli managed to break the deadlock around the 30-minute mark, when Yousef Jaber went up the left wing and sent a perfectly-placed cross towards Federico Cartabia, whose volleyed strike nestled into Darwish bin Habib’s bottom corner.

The hosts kept pressing Hatta in their own half and in the 38th minute Luvannor Henrique got at the end of a loose ball near the edge of the box after a poor clearance from Cleylton. However, the Brazilian’s left footed powerful strike cannoned off the crossbar.

The second half kicked off at a slow pace and it wasn’t until the 68th minute when Shabab Al Ahli nearly doubled their lead through Abdullah Al Naqbi, who tried his luck but his tricky lobbed effort was saved by Habib.

Hatta failed to make an impact as the home side maintained locked defence to add three more points to their tally.

Following the win, Shabab Al Ahli extended the gap on top of the league table to eight points as they collected their 35th point and will face Fujairah next week. On the other hand, Hatta remain 13th with eight points ahead of their critical clash against bottom side Khorfakkan.

Meanwhile, a strong comeback from Al Wahda brought them to sixth place of the table with a 2-1 victory over Fujairah at Al Nahyan Stadium.

The first half was uneventful from both sides as most of the shots were off target, until the 34th minute, when Fernando Gabriel made an attempt from a direct free kick with a powerful strike but it was easily saved by Mohammed Al Shamsi.

Paul M’Poku made a mind-twisting dribble past the Wolves’ defence then passed the ball to Sebastian Tagliabue, whose poor strike missed the target by a wide margin in the 46th minute, bringing the first half to a disappointing 0-0 score.

The 65th minute was a turning point in the match for Fujairah when Abdullah Al Junaibi made a poor challenge on Mohammed Al Menhali leading to a second-bookable offence for Al Junaibi to bring the Wolves down to ten players.

However, the away team recovered quickly when Ernest Asante made a quick counter-attack and squared the ball to Jefferson, who dribbled through the Clarets’ defence and then unleashed a powerful strike into Al Shamsi’s net to bring Fujairah into the lead with only ten players in the 69th minute.

The home team didn’t take long to respond, when Yahya Al Ghassani sent a short cross to Tagliabue, who converted it into a goal bringing the score to 1-1 in the 80th minute.

Five minutes ahead of the final whistle, Al Wahda completed the comeback . Khamis Ismael surprised Abdullah Al Tamimi when he fired a long-range rocket into the back of the net to turn the tables on the Wolves.

Following the Clarets’ win, Al Wahda occupies the sixth spot with 23 points ahead of their next match against Bani Yas, while Fujairah stayed in the 12th spot with only 10 points and will face league leader Shabab Al Ahli in matchweek 15 of the Arabian Gulf League.