Palm City surrendered a convincing 2:5 defeat to Al Arabi in the opening round of the Division 1 regular season on Friday evening, leaving the visitors perfect after two matches. The result moves Al Arabi to six points at the summit while Palm City remain winless and rooted to 14th place.
Y. Bentayeb opened the scoring at the twenty-minute mark, a moment that stuck with me because it set the tempo for everything that followed. Al Arabi controlled the flow without appearing to rush, and Bentayeb struck again at sixty-six minutes to double his tally before C. Timite added a third at seventy-one.
By then the match had slipped away from the hosts, who managed ten shots on target but could only answer with two goals of their own. A. Diaby pulled one back for Palm City at the interval, but the visitors kept raising the tempo when they needed to, with A. Pozuelo scoring at eighty-eight minutes.
W. Braga wrapped things up with two late strikes in stoppage time, the first at ninety-plus-three and the second at ninety-plus-seven. It was a clinical display from Al Arabi, who registered eleven shots on target to Palm City's ten, though possession sat at fifty-four per cent for the hosts without making much difference.
The visitors have now won both their opening fixtures, having beaten Gulf United 2:1 in their previous outing before that loss to Masfut. Palm City's run of clean sheets has not even started, and they sit two points adrift of safety in a league that rewards consistency.