Al Ain held to a 1-1 tie by Baniyas
Al Ain had to be content today evening with a 1-1 draw with their hosts of Baniyas at Al Shamkha Stadium at Round 14 of the Arabian Gulf League.
Al Ain ended the first half with a 1-0 lead secured by their leader Omar Abdurrahman at 11th minute; but Harry Novillo equalized for Baniyas at 71st minute.
Given their draw, Al Ain fell back to the 2nd place with 31 points, whereas the hosts tailed the leaderboard with only 5 points.
Both teams raced for the lead goal from the very beginning. Al Ain’s clear superiority was early evidenced when Omar Abdurrahman scored from a free kick only 11 minutes after the kickoff.
Al Ain controlled the proceedings seeking to enhance its lead. At 29th minute, Omar tried a rocket shot at the goal but his shot was brilliantly saved by Baniyas keeper Adel Abu Bakr into a corner kick.
Five minutes later, the Brazilian Caio Lucas almost doubled the lead, but his shot rolled a few centimeters past the cross bar.
In the second half, Al Ain blocked their hosts’ area piling up heavy pressure on them from all directions, but all their attempts lacked the finishing touch.
In 71st minute, Baniyas launched a counterattack led by Suhail Al Noubi who sent a perfect low cross to Novillo who took advantage of it and score the equalizer for his side.
Al Ain’s trio, Omar, Mohammed and Amer Abdurrahman played a fantastic set of one-two passes, but Mohammed’s shot just hit the keeper and bounced back to a corner kick at 78th minute; soon, the final whistle blew out.
Al Ain 1
Goals: Omar Abdurrahman “11”
Lineup:Khalid Issa, Khalid Abdurrahman, Mohannad Al Enezi, Ismail Ahmed, Bandar Mohamed, Ahmed Berman, Amer Abdurrahman, Caio Lucas, Omar Abdurrahman, Ibrahim Diaky, Douglas Dyanfres
Substitutions: Mohamed Abdurrahman, Saeed Al Katheeri and Yousef Ahmad Mousa replaced Ibrahim Diaky, Douglas Dyanfres and Amer Abdurrahman at 66th, 75th and 83rd minutes respectively
Yellow cards: Omar Abdurrahman “4+90”
Red cards: None
Baniyas 1
Goals: Harry Novillo “71”
Lineup: Adel Abu Bakr, Khalid Al Hashimi, Abdullah Al Noubi, Mark Milligan, Harry Novillo, Hassan Al Mahrami, Ahmed Saleh Al Nofali, Youssef Jaber, Ali Al Ameri, Suhail Al Noubi and Daniel Hernandez
Substitutions: Amer Omar, Omar Al Rashidi and Saleh Al Menhali replaced Suhail Al Noubi, Daniel Hernandez and Harry Novillo at 79th, 86th and 88th minutes respectively.
Yellow cards: Daniel Hernandez”23″, Chris Novello “35”, Mohamed Abdullah Idris “71”
Red cards: None
Referees: The match was officiated by referee Abdullah Al Ajel, assisted by Jasem Abdullah (1st assistant), Jasem Eidi (2nd assistant), Nasser Al Ali (Fourth Official), Badr Al Bardi (Referee Observer) and Mohamed Al Saidi (Match Commissioner)
