ABU DHABI // Al Jazira blew a golden chance to capitalise on Al Ain’s slip-up at Fujairah on Thursday as they also lost, going down 2-1 at home to a late Al Dhafra goal last night.
A victory would have put Jazira three points ahead of their title rivals with a showdown in Al Ain their next league game on March 8 and manager Eric Gerets knows this failure could be a key moment in the title race.
“These are the chances of our life and I don’t know how many chances you can get like this,” said the Belgian.
“Had we won the three points it would have put us up first in the table and in a fantastic position knowing that we have two important games coming up against Al Ain and Al Ahli.
“We were not in the game in the first half and didn’t do enough in the second half. But if you are not good enough to win you shouldn’t lose at least, which was disappointing.”
Senegalese forward Makhete Diop put the visitors ahead with a powerfully struck shot from inside the area three minutes before the break.
Mirko Vucinic, who was fit again after missing Jazira’s Asian Champions League qualifier in Uzbekistan, equalised from the spot on 63 minutes.
Jucilei, the Brazilian midfielder playing under a Palestine passport, had been brought down by Abdulraheem Jumaa and Vucinic stepped forward to fire his 21st league goal in 17 appearances.
But when the game looked like heading for a draw Mohammed Al Khoory, who had come on for Moroccan Youssef Idrissi in the 87th minute, produced a brilliant piece of work to win the game.
He beat two defenders and smashed the ball into the far corner of the net from just inside the box in injury time.
“We created many scoring chances on either side of half time but we couldn’t score,” Gerets said.
The win sent Dhafra ninth and nine points clear of relegation.
“It was a big result for us because we were not in a good position in the league table,” said Laurent Banide, the Dhafra coach.
“We played a very good game in the first half and we must also understand that we were playing against one of the strongest teams in the league. We played a positive game.”
Jazira received an early blow as their goalkeeper Khalid Al Sinani was forced to leave with a bloodied face after he collided with teammate and defender Musallem Fayez. He was replaced by Mohammed Ghuloom.
Dhafra were also left counting the cost as Diop, their 10-goal top scorer, left the pitch straight after scoring with what looked like a hamstring injury.
“Diop’s injury was a big setback for us at a time when we were playing well,” Banide said.
“I don’t know the seriousness of the injury until I get the medical report but he’s a very important player for us.”
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Wanderley hat-trick in Sharjah victory seals miserable night for capital clubs
Sharjah’s Wanderley scored a hat-trick as his side beat Al Wahda 4-1 to complete a miserable round of games for the Abu Dhabi clubs.
With Al Ain and Al Jazira having also lost, Wahda had the chance to move within a point of the joint-leaders, but they fluffed their lines in new coach Sami Al Jaber’s first league match in charge.
Brazilian forward Wanderley scored his first goal on 19 minutes, cutting inside his man and curling a right-footed shot past Adel Al Hosani in the Wahda goal.
Wahda were back on level terms when Salem Saleh got on the end of a cross to nod past Mohammed Yousif just six minutes into the second half, but Sharjah soon hit back.
First, Al Hosani made fine consecutive saves from Mauricio Ramos before a double substitution from Paulo Bonamigo turned the game.
The Brazilian coach brought Yousif Saeed and Abdullah Ghanem on for Bader Abdulrahman and Saif Al Shemili, and Saeed – who scored a late winner in the 2-1 win at Kabla last time out – almost immediately won a penalty kick that Wanderley converted.
As Wahda searched for an equaliser, Wanderley was set up by Muhain Khalifa to make it 3-1 with a minute to go, and Rodriguinho then added a fourth.
The win put space between Sharjah and the relegation zone as they went seven points clear of second-bottom Ajman.
Earlier, Kalba had taken a shock lead at title hopefuls Al Shabab when the former Wahda forward Papa Waigo netted on the stroke of half time.
But Shabab turned the game around in the space of 11 second-half minutes when Aziz Haydarov (48) and Edgar Silva (59) scored to help Shabab move to third.
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