Shabab Al Ahli enter Arabian Gulf Cup semis

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UAE - Defending champions Shabab Al Ahli inched a step closer to retaining their Arabian Gulf Cup title by cruising into the semifinals on Thursday night.

The Al Quasis club beat Hatta 2-1 in the second leg of the quarterfinals at the Rashid Stadium, to go through 5-1 on aggregate.

After a goalless first half, Senegalese frontman gave Shabab Al Ahli the lead on 50 minutes but that was to be soon cancelled out by Ahmed Khamis, who struck three minutes later. But January recruit Ante Erceg scored the winner with seven minutes left on the clock.

Mahdi Ali's men had won 3-0 in the first leg in Hatta last December with the goals coming from Henrique Luvannor, Walid Ambar and Saoud Abdulrazaq.

Shabab Al Ahli welcomed back Diop and Majed Hassan from injuries and the Dubai club had the better of the chances in the opening half.

They laid siege at the Hatta goal for large parts of the half after Hatta's lone attempt in the first minute, a header from Omro Almidani had gone astray.

Diop came close on 25 minutes with a dangerous header but it missed the far post, not by much. A little later, on 32 minutes, Erceg fluffed a chance by flashing it wide of the woodwork.

Shabab Al Ahli came back even stronger after the break and Diop broke the deadlock with his fourth goal in the competition.

The former Al Dhafra striker tucked it from the right even as Almidani's effort to thwart him went in vain.

The lead was short-lived though as Ahmed Khamis latched onto a long ball and cleverly lobbed it over the on-rushing Shabab Al Ahli captain and shot stopper Majed Naser.

Shabab Al Ahli were denied the lead on 69 minutes as Hassan Ibrahim Juma's effort from the top of the box took a deflection off Almidani and went for a corner.

The winner duly arrived with seven minutes left to play out and Croatian winger Erceg added the finishing touches by slotting it home from close range.