Ajman welcomed Al-Ittihad Kalba to their home ground for the fifth round of the Pro-League, but what looked like a straightforward fixture ended with the visitors taking all three points. The final whistle brought a 2:3 scoreline that will leave the home side wondering about a match they controlled for much of the first half.
Benjamin Tetteh opened the scoring in the twenty-fifth minute, his finish giving Ajman the cushion they needed. By then, the visitors had already seen Saman Ghoddos pick up a yellow card, a sign of the intensity building in midfield. Carlos Alberto doubled the lead just before half-time, and Walid Azarou added a third in injury time — a sequence that would have sent most punters home satisfied.
And here's the thing about matches like this: momentum shifts when you least expect them. Antônio Fialho pulled one back in the sixty-seventh minute, and though a penalty was awarded to Sékou Baba Gassama in the seventy-third, the VAR decision cancelled it. Lithierry da Silva Neves then struck in the eighty-first to level matters, and suddenly the fixture was back on a knife-edge.
The statistics tell a story of dominance without reward. Ajman held 56 per cent possession and registered five shots on target compared to Kalba's four, yet the visitors were more clinical. Their shot accuracy matched the hosts at 57 per cent to 50 per cent, and three goalkeeper saves from the Kalba keeper proved crucial when it mattered.
We had given Ajman the edge with 48 per cent confidence, but the match refused to follow the script. Kalba's recent form — three losses and a draw across their last four — made their comeback all the more remarkable. The result moves them off the bottom of the table, while Ajman's six-game unbeaten run comes to an end.