Arabian Gulf League: Al Wahda waste little time thrashing relegation-bound Baniyas

Action from Thursday night's match between Al Wahda and Baniyas in Abu Dhabi. Photo courtesy Arabian Gulf League

Al Wahda 6 Baniyas 2

Wahda: (Valdivia 12’, 70’, Rim 14’, Tagliabue 17’, 18’, Al Akberi 78’)

Baniyas: (Henty 83’, 88’)

Red card: Mark Milligan (Baniyas) 20

ABU DHABI // Al Wahda produced a four-goal blitz within six minutes early in the first half and flattened Baniyas 6-2 at the Al Nahyan stadium Thursday night.

The game was as good as over after the home side ran up a 4-0 lead in the first 18 minutes, all starting with Jorge Valdivia’s opening goal 12 minutes in. Balazs Dzsudzsak split the defence to set him up.

Rim Chang-scored on a header off an Ismail Matar corner two minutes later, and the flurry was capped by two goals in two minutes from Sebastian Tagliabue.

The Argentine tapped in a through pass from Dzsudzsak and volleyed a free kick from Matar over goalkeeper Ahmed Juma.

Valdivia added a second to his name in the second half, and substitute Mohammed Al Akberi scored the side’s sixth and final goal 12 minutes from time.

To add more woes for Baniyas, Mark Milligan, the Australian defender was sent off for dissent in the 20th minute, and captain Yousuf Jaber limped off the pitch at the half-hour.

Baniyas actually had the opportunity to score first. Ezekiel Henty was slow in rounding the Wahda keeper Rashid Ali, who did well to grab the ball from the Nigerian forward’s feet.

Henty was also unlucky when an effort early in the second half crashed against the bar. He drew some consolation with two late strikes to make it 6-2.

Man of the match

Balazs Dzsudzsak: The Hungarian did not get to the scoresheet but played a key role in setting up two of Wahda’s six goals.

What the managers said

Javier Aguirre, Wahda: “The most important was the three points from this game. I’m not happy we conceded two late goals. It’s something I don’t want to see happening again. I don’t want complacency when we are leading 6-0. In fact, we could have scored more as we had more chances playing against 10. We are still chasing for the fourth place and we also have a President’s Cup semi-final to prepare for.”

Abdulwahab Abdulqadir, Baniyas: “We made a lot of mistakes at the start and Wahda punished us. They are a side with players who can score from any situation and any time. We now have a three-week break and we’ll try to do our best to regroup and return with the hope of winning maximum from the remaining five games.” ​

The National’s verdict

Baniyas are facing the inevitable. They have been struggling all season and are now left with the Herculean task of winning maximum points from their past five games for survival in the top flight.

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