Al Jazira set domestic record with win

Al Jazira set another domestic record as they trounced Al Ittihad 5-2 in the 19th week of the UAE Pro-League (UFL) to go 27 successive league matches without a loss. Al Dhafra became the first victim of the season as they were officially relegated to the lower amateur division after losing to Dubai 6-4. The local record of unbeaten successive league matches was 26 and was set by Al Wasl earlier in the 1980s, now Al Jazira, already secured the UFL title, broke that record and still have a chance to better it in the remaining three matches of the season. But despite the big victory of Dubai they still need to win more points and in particular their match against Al Ittihad on June 1 which will surely decide the second relegated team because if Dubai win that match irrespective of their results in the other two matches, they will stay at the top while Al Ittihad will accompany Al Dhafra down. Al Ain, the record winner of the league with 9 titles, are deeply involved in the relegation battle. Despite their brilliant late form as they failed to beat Al Wasl on their own ground and settled for a goalless tie. They dropped one place down leaving Dubai in the 9th place, two points higher. They will have to win their next match against Al Ittihad next Saturday to stay in the major professional league alive. Bani Yas, the second placed team, lost their encounter against Al Nasr but stayed second thanks to Al Wahda who forced Al Shabab to settle for a tie and kept them with five points away which almost secured a place in the AFC Champions League next year for Bani Yas who were promoted only last season back to the UFL after three seasons in the amateur division. The victory was the first for Al Nasr in 96 days and took them to the sixth place with 26 points, the same apply to Al Ahli who beat Sharjah away 3-2 for their first win in 95 days. And while Al Ain, Al Wasl and Bani Yas failed to score this week, the matches witnessed scoring 25 goals thanks to Al Jazira, Dubai and Al Dhafrah who increased the average to 4.18 goal/match.