Al Ain manager Serhiy Rebrov expressed his delight after his understrength side outplayed 10-man Al Nasr 3-1 to consolidate their lead in the Adnoc Pro League.
Cristian Guanca opened the scoring with a spot kick following a challenge on midfielder Soufiane Rahimi inside the area two minutes into the second half.
Sebastian Tagliabue levelled the score for Nasr before Argentina forward Guanca regained the lead on 71 minutes.
Nasr suffered a big blow when their French midfielder Mehdi Abeid was sent off two minutes later. Ahmed Barman then sealed the victory with a tap-in nine minutes before time on matchweek 11 at the Hazza bin Zayed stadium.
“I am very proud of all my players,” Rebrov said after Al Ain took their tally to 27 points, seven ahead of Al Wahda, who travel to Kalba on Sunday.
“This team showed we have 25 players always ready to fulfil the club’s ambitions with their fighting spirits and strong desire to achieve good results.
“We always play offensive game but tonight with many of our players absent due to injuries, those young players who were provided with the opportunity did a marvellous job.
“The results alone is not enough to evaluate the team’s performance, but the statistics and numbers confirm the strength of the team’s accomplishments.”
Al Ain had several of their players missing, including Togolese forward and leading scorer Laba Kodjo, Bandar Al Ahbabi and the defenders Ivorian Kouame Autonne and Yassin Meriah.
“I pray that more players are not injured but waiting for the injured to return quickly according to the medical reports we received,” the Ukrainian added.
“We had several youngsters in tonight’s match and I’m very happy they delivered in no small way in the win.”
Elsewhere, Abdoulay Diaby found the back of the net twice as Al Jazira eased to a 4-0 victory over Khor Fakkan at the Zayed Sports City stadium.
The Malian forward opened the scoring on 25 minutes and Ahmed Fawzi doubled the lead four minutes from half time.
Abdalla Ramadan added the third five minutes after the break before Diaby rounded off with his second on 77 minutes.
Al Wasl were held to a scoreless draw by Ajman and Al Orooba overcame Emirates 4-2 in a bottom-of-the-table clash.
Saeed Obaid put the home side ahead on 15 minutes and Goseph Gnado fired in the equaliser for Emirates on the half hour.
Ali Madan and Redah Attasi found the back of the net twice within six minutes after the break for Al Orooba. Lithierry Silva pulled one back for the visitors before Ahmed Moosa scored six minutes from time to seal the victory.
