Qatari striker Mohammed Ennazy missed nearly half a dozen chances and then struck a late injury-time equaliser to help hosts Al Wahda split two points with strong contenders Al Ahli of Dubai in the First Division Football League match here yesterday.
In another dramatic match of this season's league football, leaders Al Wahda toyed with Ahli in the first session before they ended up fighting for life in the last quarter. The result means Al Wahda will go into next week's action once again as leaders. They have 26 points to Ahli's 22 while Al Ain (22) and Al Shaab (22) have a match today. Earlier in the evening Al Jazira moved to 20 points with a stunning 3-0 win over Al Nasr (23).
Al Wahda will certainly rue those missed chances in yesterday's game which could have put them at least 3-0 up at the break and established a good lead over their close rivals.
But full marks to Strecko's side. The absence of Ali Karimi, one of the most effective pros in the league, seemed to have demoralised the side so much that they were under siege in the first half. Even as the Wahda forwards missed chance after chance, Ahli could manage to pout the ball into the rival box just twice in the entire 45 minutes.
However, in a daring tactic, they came out attacking in the second session and in a total reversal, the entire Al Wahda side was in the box defending as early as the 10 minute of the second half.
Tini Ruijis task was cut out before kick-off with traditional city rivals Al Jazira doing them a big favour defeating Al Nasr. Al Wahda just had to win today, follow it up with another good display in next week's match against Al Ain and they could have made the title chase a one-horse race.
They did start in brilliant fashion but Ennazy and Ismail Matar were woefully off the target even as their teammates created chance after chance.
Ahli goalkeeper Ali Saeed added to their woes with a superb display. After Ennazy missed two close chances Matar sent the ball wide off a defensive lapse with only Ali Saeed to beat. It took a full 14 minutes before Ahli created a move and Hassan Ali shot straight to the Wahda goalkeeper.
Wahda's other pro Castillo also missed a sitter off a combined move while Fahad Masaood failed with a couple of free-kicks. All the while Ahli just kept absorbing the pressure while Wahda's goalkeeper Ramadan Mallalah was just a spectator at the other end.
Just before the break, Hassan Ali missed the second chance that Ahli had and then the break seemed to have transformed the 'Red Brigade' from Dubai.
Bashir Saeed limped out soon after restart and as Ahli started attacking, it looked evenly balanced for the first time.
Another Ennazy header went wide and then Castillo found his firm grounder miss the mark narrowly. Then came the Ahli goal which stunned the Wahda supporters.
Salem Khamis from the right passed to Ahmed Shah who crossed and the talented Faisal Khalil made no mistake. Al Wahda could not believe they were behind.
Tini brought in Yasir Salim for central defender Abdulla Salem in a clear move that was aimed to bolster his attack.
A little later Abdul Salam Juma came in for Taufeeq as Tini continued to repose his faith in Ennazy.
The lanky striker made up for those missed chances when he shot the equaliser in the first of the four-minute injury time. He almost got the winner but was thwarted while Al Ahli also came close twice earlier, after taking the lead.
Gulf News 2003
