Abu Dhabi // Yousuf Jaber, the Baniyas captain, said his side "battled heart and soul" for their 3-1 victory over Al Wasl in the President's Cup on Friday night.
“It was an excellent team effort with everyone chipping in with their contributions in the win tonight,” he said.
“The team started to improve towards the end of the league campaign and tonight’s result was a culmination of that result. Obviously we are glad of our achievement tonight.”
Baniyas had to come from a goal down to clinch victory and will next meet Al Shabab, who beat Emirates 5-2.
“We didn’t fare well in the league, which was a real disappointment, but we hope we can achieve some good results in the President’s Cup to give some joy to our fans,” Jaber said.
“Our focus now will be to win the next game, for which we will double our efforts again, as we did against Wasl.”
Baniyas won the cup in 1992 as a first-division club and reached the final in 2011, when they lost to Al Jazira.
“We reached the cup final four years ago after a disappointing ninth-place finish in the league that season. We hope we can repeat that performance again,” Jaber said.
"We have a balanced team, and Amer Abdulrahman made a huge difference after having returned from injury. His contribution with a goal and assist was a key contribution in the win."
Joan Verdu, who scored twice for his side, shared the same sentiment as his captain.
“I am very happy to be able to contribute on the victory which was achieved as a team,” the Spaniard said.
mashamsi@thenational.ae
Follow us on Twitter at @NatSportUAE
