Emirates Club manage to rein in leaders Al Wasl

Gulfnews - Rasoul Khatibi's injury time goal helped 10-man Emirates Club snatch a 2-2 draw against league leaders Al Wasl in the Etisalat First Division Football League here yesterday.

In another match yesterday, Al Nasr defeated Sharjah 3-1.

Khatibi's first half strike looked to be going in vain when Al Wasl equalised in the 52nd minute and then struck again late in the 90th minute through Khalaf Esmail in what looked like the match-winner.

But in the final minute of the five-minute injury time, Khatibi found his way through nearly four Al Wasl defenders to beat UAE national team goalkeeper Majid Naser for a fully-deserved 2-2 draw.

The result, however did not make much difference to Emirates who are currently 11th in the 12-team league with 12 points from 13 matches.

But Al Wasl, who were joint leaders with Al Wahda on 26 points before this match, may be left ruing the two points they have lost as Al Wahda will tackle Al Jazira in the Abu Dhabi derby on Sunday.

The match was action-packed with both teams playing some attacking football and Emirates looked sharper in attack with their two professionals Khatibi and Enayati combining effectively.

In the 22nd minute Enayati delayed in front of the rival goal and was dispossessed but two minutes later his team forged ahead.

Enayati sent Khatibi through with a deft forward pass and the latter darted in to beat Majid Nasser.

Oliviera off colour

With Oliviera off colour and Anderson getting desperate and also earning a yellow card for faking a dive, Al Wasl looked in a spot of bother.

But seven minutes after the break Khalid Darwish let fly from outside the box and the ball went in off the upright.

Al Wasl came close twice when Anderson failed to meet a cross from Oliviera and Abdullah Eissa shot wide from close range.

However, Enayati was sent off for an off-the-ball incident in and then came the last-minute goal by Khalaf Esmail which got cancelled out by Khatibi's brilliant effort in injury time.

Meanwhile Enayati's sending off triggered off a clash between supporters of the two teams in the stands and it took a few minutes for wiser counsel to prevail as the police boosted their presence.

Khatibi's first half strike looked to be going in vain when Al Wasl equalised in the 52nd minute and then struck again late in the 90th minute through Khalaf Esmail in what looked like the match-winner.