Al Dhafra put some distance between themselves and the relegation spots by beating hosts Kalba 3-1 last night. Mohammed Berrabeh, the midfielder from Morocco, scored a penalty shortly before the break and Boris Kabi and Ghalib al Kuwaiti added second-half goals as Dhafra won the battle of the Pro League's most distant clubs.
Dhafra moved on to six points from five matches and put some distance between themselves and new boys Kalba and Dubai, who have one and zero points respectively and have some work to do to avoid a return to Division One next season.
Berrabeh's confident penalty strike came after Mohammed Alsaedi was inadvertently kneed in the stomach by Mansoor Abbas, the Kalba defender, while winning a ball inside the box. Only an acrobatic save by Mohammed al Tamimi, the Dhafra goalkeeper, kept Simon Feindouno from levelling from 23-yards out in the 57th minute.
Perhaps stung into action, Dhafra scored twice to go 3-0 up and secure the match.
The second goal came when Kabi, the Ivorian forward, followed up a shot that Mohammed Abdullah, the Kalba goalkeeper, could not hold on to and tapped the bobbling ball into the net. Abdullah was hurt in the incident and was withdrawn from the game. Al Kuwaiti made it 3-0 in the 79th minute. Kalba finally beat al Tamami in the 88th minute with a fine effort by Feindouno, who volleyed a waist-high ball into the net.
Dhafra, based in the town of Madinat Zayed in the Western Region of Abu Dhabi, near the Empty Quarter, are the most south-westerly side in the league, while Kalba, an enclave of Sharjah located on the Indian Ocean, represents the north-west extreme. Dhafra's victory moved them closer to the mass of clubs in the middle of the table.
* Compiled by Paul Oberjuerge