Victory is too little too late for battling Baniyas

ABU DHABI // Baniyas consolidated second position in the Pro League with a 2-0 victory over 10-man Dubai last night.

Amer Abdulrahman put in a man-of-the-match performance, opening the scoring for Baniyas with a 44th-minute penalty before he set up Mustafa Kareem, the Iraq international, for the second goal a minute into added time at the Baniyas Stadium.

Dubai suffered a major blow when Michael N'dri, their influential French forward, was sent off for a second booking for sinking his studs into the shin of Fawzi Bashir, the Oman international, two minutes into first-half added time.

The visitors had matched Baniyas in every department until a clumsy tackle from their defender Ahmed Malallah brought down Ahmed Ali, leading to the penalty just before the break.

Abdulrahman made no mistake with the resulting spot kick.

With the numerical advantage following N'dri's rash challenge, Baniyas started the second half more offensively and could have added to the score early in that period. Andre Senghor's header from a Bashir cross sailed just wide and Theyab Awana's mazy dribble past a couple of Dubai defenders was let down by a poor finish.

Awana's header from a corner ricocheted off the crossbar before Dubai started to make some inroads into Baniyas territory.

Hassan Abdulrahman came closest to levelling the scores but his free kick crashed against the bar before the Emirati forward's stinging effort from 25 yards just skimmed over the cross piece.

One minute into injury time aniyas scored their second of the game following a delightful chip through from Abdulrahman to Kareem, who came on as a late substitute, to head home from close range

The win took Baniyas' tally to 34 points, but Al Jazira's 4-0 win away to 10-man Al Wasl in last night's late game means, with four games left, Baniyas have virtually no chance of catching Abel Braga's side, who are 12 points better off and have a goal advantage of 23 over their nearest rivals.

The victory was Baniyas' first win in their last five Pro League games.

Al Ain beat Al Dhafra 3-0 to pull clear from relegation trap door

Al Ain moved a step closer to Pro League survival last night with an impressive 3-0 win away to bottom club Al Dhafra, who remain eight points adrift of safety.

A goal in each half from Mohamed Abdulrahman and a strike four minutes from time from Omar Abdulrahman ensured victory for Alexandre Gallo’s side, who now have a total of 21 points, four points clear of second-bottom Kalba with four games remaining.

The defeat was Dhafra’s 12th in 18 games and leaves them with a mountain to climb to avoid the drop as they remain firmly rooted to the bottom of the table with only 12 points.

apassela@thenational.ae