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Al Shabab 2 Sharjah 2

Gulf News - Al Shabab rallied to force a draw (2-2) with Sharjah in the First Division football league at Maktoum bin Rashid stadium on Wednesday night.

Sharjah led 2-0 in the first half despite playing with 10 men. Eight minutes from kickoff the referee showed the red card to defender Hasan Ahmed for a rough tackle on Arthur Moses, the Al Shabab striker. However, the home team recovered in the second half and took advantage of the further depleted Sharjah team, who were reduced to nine men following the ejection of striker Razaq Farhan for his second bookable offence.

The result didn't help either team. Both stayed at the bottom of the table with two points each.
Iranian striker Ali Daei returned to Al Shabab yesterday, following a four-week absence through injury.

Daei's return, however, failed to satisfy the Iranian supporters as their national team skipper saw his penalty kick being denied by the upright. Daei's teammate Mehrdad Minavand was also missing following a one-match suspension.

Daei squandered another chance, three minutes after the missed penalty, when he was put through to face the Sharjah goalkeeper, but shot straight at his body.

Sharjah went ahead in the 22nd minute through Saeed Al Kass, who capitalised on a mistake by Al Shabab keeper Hasan Sherrif. The Al Shabab custodian saw a short pass by him to his defender intercepted by Al Kass, who shot into the empty net.

Salim Saad, the Al Shabab striker, who didn't play in his club's last match, while asking for a transfer to another club, came in at the 30th minute to replace Abdullah Darwish.

The Al Shabab's attacks, by Daei and Arthur, lacked bite and the Sharjah keeper, Tariq Mussabah, faced no real threat.

Sharjah added their second goal in the fourth minute of injury time following a well-placed free kick taken by Abdullah Suhail from 25 metres.

After halftime Al Shabab pulled one back following a goalmouth error by the Sharjah defence and goalkeeper. Arthur scored before the Sharjah defenders could clear the ball.

Al Shabab pressed hard till the 63rd minute when Khalil Mirza sent a high ball to Ali Daei, who headed it down for Arthur, who shot straight above the advancing Sharjah custodian.

Two minutes later Sharjah's Razaq Farhan was sent off for faking a dive after he was brought down inside the box by Shabab defender Khamis Jaffar.

The referee, thinking that Razaq faked the foul, gave him his second yellow card of the match. Despite the two dismissals Sharjah denied Al Shabab from scoring the winner and both teams settled for a draw.

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