Al Ain consolidate lead with victory

Al Ain consolidated their leadership of the Etisalat Pro League with a 2-0 win at Dubai yesterday while their closest rivals continue to lose points. Al Ain increased their tally to 33 and went five ahead of second-placed Al Nasr, who had to settle for a 1-1 tie with Al Wahda on Tuesday, while third-placed Al Jazira were surprisingly beaten 2-1 by Bani Yas last night. Ignacio Scocco put Al Ain into the lead in the 20th minute against Dubai when Yasir Qah'tani headed a corner from Mirel Radoi into his path. The Argentinian striker placed home easily. Fine run In the 62nd minute, Ghanaian Asamoah Gyan added the second goal — his 11th in the league this season — in his first match after returning from taking part in the finals of the Africa Cup of Nations. Dubai failed to budge from the bottom rank and still have seven points from 14 matches. They will also miss the services of defender Yousuf Mohammad Al Hammadi who was sent off in the 77th minute for two yellow cards. In last night's other early match, Andre Senghor, last season's top scorer, put Bani Yas into the lead as early as the third minute following a defensive blunder from Lucas Neill, whose pass was intercepted by Francesco Yeste and he set up Senghor to score. Matias Delgado levelled the score with a trade-mark free-kick from just outside the penalty box in the 16th minute, but Senghor had the last word when he added the winner in the 54th minute with a beautiful header from an Ebrahim Saeed cross from the left flank. Ali Khaseef, the visiting custodian, was shown the red card in the 89th minute after he went outside his box to commit a professional foul against Yeste. The league will now stop for a month for an international break before resuming on March 15.