ABU DHABI // Abdulaziz Sanqour arched a pinpoint cross onto Salmeen Khamis’s head and the Al Ahli bench erupted.
Ahli have had little to cheer this season, but in the 86th minute of the rescheduled Super Cup on Friday night, they finally had a spark to lighten their campaign.
A bolt from the blue in an otherwise vanilla encounter at the Mohammed bin Zayed Stadium gifted Ahli a precious 1-0 victory, made all the more valuable given who it condemned to defeat.
Just as in this event’s 2013/14 edition, Al Ain were vanquished. This time, though, penalties were not required to add excitement to a match that sorely needed it.
As the game drifted towards a shootout, Khamis found himself unmarked at Al Ain’s near post and headed past Khalid Essa.
Ahli, celebrated as double winners as recently as last May, have another trinket to cherish, irrespective that this trophy pales in comparison to the relinquished Arabian Gulf Cup or soon-to-be-surrendered Arabian Gulf League title.
For Al Ain, their dissatisfaction was personified by Mohammed Abdulrahman’s early departure.
Incensed when an ambitious appeal for a penalty went unrewarded late on, the midfielder was shown a straight red card. Still enraged, he had to be escorted down the tunnel.
Within moments, as Al Ain chased an equaliser and Ahli scrapped and scraped towards the win, Cosmin Olaroiu was sent to the stands for an apparent altercation with Zlatko Dalic, his opposite number.
Never far from the fracas when his past and present employers meet, the Romanian was also sent off when the clubs met in the league last October.
Round 3, which takes place in a week’s time, should be a blast.
Bar the final throes, the season’s second instalment in what has become UAE football’s fiercest rivalry failed to live up to its billing. In fact, it came up well short.
The reigning Arabian Gulf League champions against the division’s current leaders should always guarantee a certain degree of quality, but this was an occasion in which both sides stuttered and spluttered. In a staid first half, only Ahmed Khalil, the Ahli striker, had a chance of note.
After the break, Sanqour spurned another opportunity for the Dubai club, before Mohammed Ahmed and Ibrahim Diaky proved wasteful for Al Ain.Then Khamis, typically deployed at centre-back, landed in Al Ain’s penalty area and supplied the decisive blow.
The Super Cup sealed, it could have far-reaching ramifications for Ahli’s beleaguered campaign, too.
jmcauley@thenational.ae
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