And the men from the Garden City were thoroughly worth their whitewash win, with wide receiver Muhammad Abdullah shining as Sharp’s men improved to 2-2.
It was more history for Al Ain, who built on their opening day win over the defending Desert Bowl champions the Dubai Barracudas – which was in itself a first victory in four years and just a second ever.
Yesterday’s win was the biggest ever for the Desert Foxes and the significance was not lost on Abdullah.
“It’s the first time Al Ain’s ever had a shutout so we were really happy we could see out the game,” said Abdullah.
“We really fought. It was a total team effort. We had to fight through a rough start but we built some momentum and saw it out.”
Tailback John McAllister broke the scoreless tension in the closing minutes of the first half, rumbling in from 10 yards after both teams had squandered good opportunities.
Al Ain had twice breached the end zone, only for the officials to rule out scores for Omar Ahmad for illegal motion and then McAllister after an illegal block in the back.
Abdullah sunk the knife into the Stallions before the interval when he connected with a 35 yard pass from quarterback Jay Hall after opposing signal caller Kelly Susee had thrown an interception which was grabbed by Abdullah.
“The two touchdowns at the end of the first half were the turning point,” added Abdullah.
“We had a lot of penalties and as soon as we get a cleaner game I think we’ll have a better product. Penalties and turnovers are really hurting us at the start of games.”
Adeeb Labaran sealed the win in the third with a one yard run, with the Desert Foxes converting a third straight two point conversion, and the Stallions’ misery was compounded when running back Mohamed El Atawi’s touchdown was called back to gift another piece of history to Al Ain.
“I rolled my ankle, it’s a little sore, but my pride is more sore after today,” said Stallions’ defensive tackle Vernon Robinson.
“We beat these guys the first game but they came here today and just beat us in every phase of the game. They tackled better, blocked better, caught better. We had five turnovers in the first half. We just played poor football as a team.”
