Grafite hits late winner as class prevails for Al Ahli

Catalin Raducan, the Ahli assistant manager, saluted the efforts of his men, who have played four matches in the past 11 days and capped off their latest win in grand fashion, writes Ahmed Rizvi.

Al Ahli's Grafite, left, fight for the ball with Kim Jung Woo from Sharjah at Rashid Stadium last night. Grafite hit the game winner in the 87th minute. Jaime Puebla / The National

Al Ahli 2 Sharjah 1

Al Ahli Basheer Saeed 56', Grafite 87'

Sharjah Ze Carlos 51'

Red cards Salmeen Khamis (Al Ahli); Shahin Abdulrahman (Sharjah)

Man of the match Basheer Saeed (Al Ahli)

DUBAI // Class is all about grace and grit under pressure, and Al Ahli showed plenty of it on Thursday night.

Reduced to 10 men in the 23rd minute after Salmeen Khamis was booked for a second time, the Arabian Gulf League leaders defended stoutly through the first half and when Ze Carlos put Sharjah ahead in the 51st minute, Basheer Saeed rallied the team with the equaliser five minutes later.

Grafite then struck the winner for the inspired hosts three minutes from time, seconds after Sharjah were also reduced to 10 men when Shahin Abdulrahman received his second yellow card of the night for a foul on the Brazilian.

Catalin Raducan, the Ahli assistant manager, saluted the efforts of his men, who have played four matches in the past 11 days.

“I think to play four games in 11 days is very difficult, but to play with 10 men after 23 minutes against a team like Sharjah is even worse,” he said. “So I have to congratulate my players. They showed a lot of character and played with their heart, fighting till the end.

“I don’t know how many teams can play like this after going down 1-0 with 10 men. This shows the true character and spirit of our team.

“They spent a lot of energy tonight, but we have won a very important match and very important three points.”

The result was even more pleasing for Ahli’s fans because it was Sharjah who broke their run of seven consecutive wins at the start of the season.

A repeat looked possible as an injudicious, but innocuous, Salmeen Khamis foul on Carlos in the 23rd minute left the hosts a man short.

Carlos made the most of Khamis’s slight tug and extended arm, rolling on the ground in seeming agony, and the Ahli defender, who had been booked in the third minute, was given his marching orders by the referee Ammar Al Junaibi.

Six minutes into the second half, Salem Khamis found Carlos with a through ball from the centre and the Brazilian sashayed his way into the box before scoring through the legs of the Ahli keeper.

Luis Jimenez almost levelled the scores for the hosts in the 56th minute with a stinging right footer from the top of the box, but the Sharjah keeper Mohammed Yousuf made a valiant diving save. Seconds later he could do little as Basheer Saeed headed in Ciel’s cross to make it 1-1.

The equaliser turned the tide for Ahli and it culminated with Grafite’s winner in the 87th minute. The Brazilian pounced on a rebound and placed it home after the Yousuf had punched back Majed Hassan’s initial effort.

“We played a lot better when we were 11 against 11,” said Paulo Bonamigo, the Sharjah coach. “We could put pressure on Ahli after they lost a player and failed to create any chances. We did get a goal in the second half, but Ahli created more chances and scored.

“They were clearly more efficient than our team, but now we just have to look forward to the next game. Our target is to keep our team in the top four and we will continue working to achieve this.”

Emirates 1 Al Ain 2

Asamoah Gyan made it 21 league goals with a double to defeat Emirates.

The Ghanaian opened the scoring, but Emirates hit back as Masoud Hassan’s shot trickled through the legs of Dawoud Sulaiman.

Gyan scored the winner from the penalty spot after being upended by goalkeeper Ali Saeed Saqr.

Baniyas 2 Al Shaab 1

Al Shaab were forced to pay the price for Essa Mohammed’s red card with 30 minutes remaining as Baniyas secured victory on Thursday night.

Carlos Munoz gave the home side the lead before Mohammed was sent off.

Shaab equalised through Jesus Meza but Nawaf Musabh grabbed the winner.

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