Al Wasl return to winning ways

Al Wasl's Fabio de Lima and Ajman's Hassan Zahran tussle for possession in the Arabian Gulf League on Saturday night.

Al Wasl returned to winning ways by defeating 10-man Ajman in the 20th round of the Arabian Gulf League on Saturday night.
The Cheetahs, without a win in five matches, blanked Ajman 2-0 at the Rashid bin Saeed Stadium in Ajman.
Fabio de Lima and Caio Canedo scored for Al Wasl on 29 and 79 minutes respectively. Lima's goal, his 19th this term, took the Brazilian level with Al Wahda's Sebastian Tagliabue in the goal-scorers list.
Al Wasl had not tasted victory since the 2-1 win over Sharjah at home in week 14 of the League January. Since then, they had lost 4-3 to Al Wahda, drew 1-1 with defending champions Al Jazira, suffered a shock loss to Dibba, and went down 2-1 to Al Nasr, their rivals down the road.
The Cheetahs had also lost to Al Dhafra 2-1 in their previous outing. During this spell, they had also lost to Al Wahda in the Arabian Gulf Cup final.
But on Saturday night, their poor run finally came to an end away in Ajman. Their 10th win and fourth on the road, took The Cheetahs to 35 points, a point behind Al Nasr.
It should make for an interesting final two fixtures in the League with both Al Nasr and Al Wasl eyeing the third and final spot in the AFC Champions League for next season.
Al Wasl play Hatta at home in their penultimate round before making the short road trip to Al Quasis to face Shabab Al Ahli in their final fixture of the season.
Meanwhile, Al Nasr face a tough home fixture against Al Ain and then travel to Ras Al Khaimah to meet Emirates.
Al Wasl put their run of poor results behind them with Fabio de Lima breaking the deadlock on 28 minutes with a fine solo.
The Brazilian striker danced past three defenders before tucking it into the far corner of the net. Much later, in the second half, Lima provided the assist for Caio Canedo as Al Wasl went up 2-0.
Lima delivered a sumptuous through ball and Caio Canedo connected well and fired his left-footer past goalkeeper Abdulla Sultan.
Ajman, who suffered their ninth defeat and fifth at home, were down to 10 men in stoppage time after Waleed Abdullah was sent off following a second booking.
Ajman are eighth on the table with 23 points.
james@khaleejtimes.com
 
GOALS & CARDS:
Ajman 0
(Yellow cards: Waleed Abdullah 85. Red card: Waleed Abdullah 90+3)
Al Wasl 2
(Goals: Fabio de Lima 29, Caio Canedo 78. Yellow cards: Abdulla Jassim Ali 44, Yousef Al Zaabi 71, Waheed Ismail 75, Abdalla Saleh 78)