EX-Super Eagles striker, Emmanuel Emenike was on the goals
scorers sheet after his Al Ain ended Al Shabab’s unbeaten run
with a 4-1 win.
Al-Ain who now move top of the Arabian Gulf League after six
games, took just 59 seconds for Al Ain to fire themselves in front; Al Shabab failing to fully clear an early corner for the visitors, with Salem Abdulla’s punch from under his crossbar falling straight to Omar Abdulrahman just inside the area, and the UAE midfielder thrashed a left-footed strike into the back of the net.
A pacey opening few minutes saw Brazilian striker Jo almost reply instantaneously for the hosts, but the former Man City man dragged his cross-goal strike narrowly wide, and inside the 4th minute Carlos Villanueva’s sharp shot drew a low one-handed save from Khalid Essa to keep it out.
But despite Al Shabab’s decent attempts to get back into the game, it was Al Ain who scored a second goal in the 21st minute; Fellipe Bastos curling a fine free kick over the wall and into the back of Salem Abdulla’s net to make it 2-0.
Not to be kept down, though, Al Shabab retained their belief and got back in the game with a goal at 2-1 in the 38th minute; Jo powering through Al Ain’s back line to run onto Luvannor’s through-ball and stroking his left foot over the top of the ball to find the far corner with a low finish.
But as Al Shabab’s confidence grew with the goal, it was suddenly cut in the 43rd minute with the award of a penalty for Al Ain after Mahmood Qassim handled Emmanuel Emenike’s attempt in the area, and the Nigerian striker stepped up to convert the spot kick and make it 3-1 in the 45th minute.
A half-time defensive change saw Mohammed Ayed enter the fray
in place of the yellow-carded Mahmood Qassim, but it didn’t help steady the ship for Al Shabab as Al Ain had extended their lead even further by the 50th minute; Fellipe Bastos netting his second of the game from distance to make it 4-1 early into the second period of play. With the visitors in cruise control, Zlatko Dalic was able to make changes, first bringing off brace-scorer Fellipe Bastos for Diaky, before introducing Rashed Essa and Saeed Musabeh in place of Mohammed Abdulrahman and Mohamed Fayez respectively. Al Shabab’s next change in bringing on Dawood Ali to replace the equally diminutive Khalifa Abdulla did little to alter the direction of the game, as Al Ain comfortably saw out a sizeable victory in Dubai.
