Basheer and Senghor maintain Baniyas' winning start

BANIYAS // Andre Senghor and Fawzi Basheer struck late in the game for Baniyas to register their second successive win in the Pro League. Senghor headed a cross from Basheer to break the deadlock in the 75th minute and Basheer put the game to bed three minutes from time against Al Dhafra last night in front of a sparse crowd of 1,224 at the Baniyas Stadium. Senghor had at least three efforts at goal before succeeding in opening the scoring with a superb header from a cross from Basheer, the Omani international. The tall Senegalese striker was denied a similar effort four minutes earlier when Mohammed Hussain did well to push his header over the crossbar, but the Dhafra goalkeeper could do nothing to deny his second effort. Michel de Castel, the Dhafra coach, had his men adopt a defensive strategy and it seemed to be working well until Senghor struck. Baniyas had the better of the exchanges in the first half but were frustrated by their inability to score from the chances they created in a drab opening 45 minutes. They had at least four chances to take the lead, two of which were thwarted by Hussain, and the other two were wide of the target. Eder Silveira, the Brazilian defender, was the first to have a go at the visitor's goal, but his header from a corner in the 25th minute was wide. The best chance of the half fell to Senghor but the African delayed his shot too long and his shot from six yards out was well smothered by Hussain. Hussain also did well to push out a stinging shot from the edge of the area from Basheer. And Senghor was wasteful with a close range header after a well-placed cross from Amer Abdulrahman, one of the stars of the UAE youth team that won the Under 23 Gulf Cup last month. The Baniyas victory gives them six points and puts them at the top of the table behind Al Jazira on goal difference. Baniyas were something of a surprise last season as they finished in fourth place, but judging by their early season results, they have designs on challenging even higher this term. apassela@thenational.ae Baniyas Senghor 75', Basheer 87' Man of the match Fawzi Basheer (Baniyas)