First-half goals from Brazilians Bernard Duarte and Caio Lucas propelled Sharjah to a 2-1 win over Hatta and seal their place in the last eight of the President’s Cup. The win set up a quarter-final meeting with Shabab Al Ahli, who beat Al Dhafra 1-0 away courtesy of a Hamdan Al Kamali strike on Wednesday. Duarte dribbled past the Hatta defence to finish with a stinging left footer for a 10th minute lead and Caio scored with a spectacular bicycle kick to double the lead on the half-hour. Regis Tosatti pulled one back from the penalty spot 11 minutes from time to keep the game alive but Sharjah kept their cool to hold on. “We were lucky to build a 2-0 lead at half time and that set the platform for us for the remainder of the match,” Sharjah goalkeeper Adel Al Hosani said. “Winning is the most important result in this knockout format and we managed to achieve that. Like all clubs, Hatta are a pretty decent side and they gave us a hard time. “We became a bit complacent after the first half and that allowed Hatta to come back to keep the game alive until the final whistle. These are areas we need to work on for our next game.” At the Hamdan bin Zayed stadium in Dhafra, Al Kamali’s 20th minute strike was enough for Shabab Al Ahli to secure their pace in the last eight in the competition. “The important thing is we won,” the Shabab Al Ahli centre-back said. “It’s one game at a time in this format and the winner stays in the race. “We achieved that on the night and hopefully we can continue to achieve that result again when we meet Sharjah in the last eight.” Kalba hung on to their early two-goal lead to come out 2-1 winners over Al Arabi. Ousmane Camara netted an early goal and Abdulsalam Mohammed doubled the lead in the 22nd minute. Kalba were reduced to 10 men when Mohammed Subil picked up a second yellow card three minutes before half time. Al Arabi narrowed the gap through Paulo Silva on 56 minutes but that was as close they got.