Ten Cate left to lick Ahli's wounds

DUBAI// Henk ten Cate, the Al Ahli coach, was left to rue his side's run of bad luck after they threw away a two-goal lead against Baniyas on Friday night. The champions were coasting thanks to goals from Hosny Rabo and Bare, the Brazilian striker, but the match finished 2-2 after they conceded goals from Andre Senghor, in the 85th minute, and Farid Ismail less than a minute later. "It is disappointing, but these things do happen in football and we should have been warned," said the Dutchman, who became Ahli's fourth coach of the season earlier this month.

"I guess we are just missing the luck we need and that usually happens a lot when things are not going your way. "Saying that, the result shows that we still have a lot of hard work ahead. "We cannot afford to drop points like that. We've got to stay in there, mentally and physically, until the final whistle sounds. "We conceded the first goal from a corner and that seemed to have stunned the team a little and then the second came barely seconds later.

"When you concede goals that late in the game, there is no time to fight back." The draw keeps Baniyas in fourth place with 27 points, 10 behind the leaders Al Wahda, while Ahli are two places further down on 18 points. Lutfi Benzarti, the Baniyas coach, said: "We deserved the point because we fought until the end. Both teams played good attacking football right through, but I guess we are the happier team having turned it around late."

A brace from Saad al Kaas gave Al Wasl a 3-2 win at Al Dhafra last night. His double sandwiched an Abbas Moya goal before Elton added a third. Mohammed Saleh reduced the deficit in injury time for Dhafra. [e-mail]