AL AIN // It was an Al Ain victory, and an exciting one for the 7,153 in attendance at the Tahnoun bin Mohammed Stadium late last night, but one that left the hosts with plenty to ponder about their leaky defence. Jose Sand scored twice, and Omar Abdulrahman and Abdulaziz Fayez each added one, and Al Ain needed all of them to win while surrendering three goals to lightly regarded Dubai, newly promoted after several years in Division One.
Al Ain twice were sitting on a two-goal cushion, but Dubai twice came back with a goal to reduce the lead and keep the game alive. Michael N'dri, the French forward, scored twice for Dubai, and Rachid Tiberkanin, the Moroccan, added the third. Sand, the leading scorer in the Pro League last year with 23 goals, scored twice in the first half despite missing a penalty in the eighth minute. N'dri opened the scoring, but Sand headed a looping overhead pass from Abdulrahman to cancel Dubai's lead past the half-hour mark and Abdulrahman put them ahead four minutes later with a curling free-kick.
The Argentine added a second to his name from a second penalty, which he himself earned when pulled down by Juma Khater, the Dubai defender, in front of the goalmouth in first-half added time. Al Ain had more scoring opportunities in the first half but it was the visitors who drew first blood when N'dri fired into the roof of the net from close range after Hassan Mohammed headed the ball into his path in the 17th minute.
Sand was denied a hat-trick when Jamal al Hammadi covered the goal well to hold on to his header from a Abdulrahman cross early in the second half, and N'dri struck at the other end with a superb dipping shot from the right flank six minutes into the session. Keita, was drafted straight into the line-up, just two days after his arrival from Al Qadisiya of Kuwait. The Ivorian midfielder was flown in after Soufiane Alloudi, the Moroccan, was ruled out for more than four months with a knee injury he suffered in a friendly against Al Shabab of Oman.
@Email:apassela@thenational.ae
