Kabylie star Dabo ends on high note

Omar Dabo, seen here in action in 2002, bade farewell to Algerian club Jeunesse Sportive Kabylie by scoring the two goals that got their African Champions League challenge back on track.

Omar Dabo bade farewell to Algerian club Jeunesse Sportive Kabylie by scoring the two goals that got their African Champions League challenge back on track.

The Mali-born striker converted a 30th-minute penalty and struck again two minutes before half-time to earn twice African champions Kabylie a comfortable 2-0 Group A win over FAR Rabat of Morocco this weekend.

It was the final appearance by Dabo ahead of his transfer to French second division outfit Le Havre and he was acting captain of the 'Canaries' for the key match in the northern town.

Kabylie and 1985 champions FAR suffered first round losses to Al-Ittihad of Libya and Etoile Sahel of Tunisia respectively two weeks ago and could ill afford another defeat so early in the six-match series.

Dabo raised his Champions League goal haul to seven, two less than leading scorer Mputu Mabi from TP Mazembe of the Democratic Republic of Congo, and will be sorely missed by a side low on striking options.

The penalty resulted from a needless FAR hand ball after a Mohamed Meftah cross and Dabo sent goalkeeper Tarek al-Jarmouni the wrong way to give his team a lead they barely deserved.

Another cross led to the second goal with Al-Jarmouni caught out of position when Kamel Marek pulled the ball back for 2006 Algerian Footballer of the Year Dabo to fire past a defender on the line.

FAR weaved neat passing movements only to let down by woeful finishing and seldom threatened injury prone goalkeeper Faouzi Chaouchi, who needed attention four times within seven minutes near half-time.

The result got the reign of Kabylie coach Kamel Mouassa off to a good start and the decision to switch the fixture from Algiers to artificial turf at the far smaller November 1 Stadium also paid off with sustained animated support.