Bani Yas staged a second half fightback following Fellipe Bastos’ red card to show that, under Pablo Repetto, they have lost the soft underbelly so characteristic in their game in recent years.
The hosts were on top in a drab first opening 45 minutes but were shell-shocked inside three second half minutes when they initially went 1-0 down to Ibrahim Abdulla’s penalty before going a man down as well.
They showed resilience though and were indebted to Australia midfielder Mark Milligan’s deflected strike which brought both teams their maiden points of the season.
Repetto, appointed in the summer, was unhappy with referee Sultan Al Marzouqi, who instantly produced a red card for Bastos following his tackle on Omar Rashed but failed to do likewise when Dutch midfielder Nicandro Breeveld later went in crudely on Milligan.
“I don’t like to talk about the referee but he made too many mistakes,” said the Uruguayan.
“The same incident with Bastos occurred to us with Milligan, so why not a red card for him?”
Dibba’s Portuguese coach, Paulo Sergio, was happy with a point away from home.
“We had the better chances in the first half and in the second we should profit as we have one more man,” admitted the former Sporting Lisbon chief .
“But, it’s not easy to play against 10. It would have been better if it was three points but a point away is always a good result.”
Former Al Wahda forward Amer Omar (r) eludes a challenge
Having lost their talisman in the summer – Amer Abdulrahman – much of Bani Yas’ aspirations have been pinned to the man who traded places with him at Al Ain – Bastos.
The Brazilian was fractionally late to a 50/50 tackle with Rashed early in the second half and though there was no malice, he did catch him with his studs and right in front of Al Marzouqi who immediately produced red.
That served as a double blow to Bani Yas who had gone a goal down minutes earlier following a dubious penalty given for a push on South Korean centre-back Heo Jae-won.
Ibrahim Abdulla dispatched the spot kick with ease but the hosts were only behind for 10 minutes.
Hamad Faraj wanted too much time on the ball near hiw own box and his clearance was blocked. The ball fell to Milligan who strode through several flimsy challenges, and there was a degree of justice served when his effort looped over Fahad Al Dhanhani and nestled in the net after taking a nick off Heo.
That gave Repetto’s side the initiative once more and it was the Sky Blues who looked most likely to net a winner.
Milligan twisted his way into range before unleashing a dipping effort that cracked the crossbar and Hasan Al Muharrani’s header was straight at Al Dhanhani from a corner a minute later.
Heo could have redeemed himself with virtually the last action of the match but saw his looping header drop just over the bar.
