By Sports Reporter/Doha


In a topsy-turvy match that had everything from red cards to penalties, Al Sailiya pulled off a 3-3 draw against Al Gharafa in their Qatar Stars League match yesterday.
Sailiya have Issam Jemaa to thank for who scored a brace, and more importantly the third goal and the equalizer for his team in the 87th minute to earn a draw against Gharafa. And this was despite Sailiya being down to ten men in the 58th minute after Fawzi Mubarak Ayiesh received a second yellow card.
Sailiya have endured a stop-start season so far. They have six wins which is one more than the three teams above them in the table but they have also suffered eight losses which is the third-worst among the 14 teams playing in the QSL this season.
But it was Sailiya who started strongly and scored an early goal through Ayiesh in the 8th minute. This started the see-saw nature of the game.
Both teams were playing an open game and looking to get on the attack. But it took some time for the second goal of the match to be scored. And it was Gharafa who levelled the scores through their skipper Bilal Rajab in the 39th minute.
And just when it looked like Gharafa were on the ascendancy, Sailiya went ahead again in the 42nd minute with Jemaa scoring the first of his two goals.
Sailiya went into the break with a 2-1 lead and with hopes for getting a win.
But within three minutes of the start of the second half, Gharafa got a penalty and Mark Bresciano didn’t make any mistake as he converted from the spot to level the scores.
And then came the turning point of the match for Sailiya. Ayiesh received a second yellow and having being reduced to 10-men put them under a severe disadvantage.
Gharafa took advantage of the situation and went on the attack and scored in the 63rd minute through their new signing Christian Bolanos.  
The tone of the match had completely changed with Gharafa controlling the possession and Sailiya looking to defend strongly. But then in the dying minutes of the game, Sailiya produced a great counter attack and Jemaa scored his second goal.
Gharafa had a win snatched from them by a 10-man Sailiya who have to be given credit for not giving up till the very last.

KHARAITIYAT CONTINUE STEADY CLIMB UP THE TABLE
Al Kharaitiyat came back from a one goal deficit to win 2-1 away at the Suhaim bin Hamad stadium in the early fixture today.
Since changing their coach, the thunders have won their last three games and moved up the table into 8th place with 22 points.
Al Kharaitiyat coach Amir Osim said at the pre-match press conference that if his team could play intelligently, then they were in with a chance as this match represented the Bosnian’s biggest challenge yet.
And that appeared to ring true as Umm Salal took an early lead on the 8th minute when Jermie Ali Adiere broke through on goal and put his side a goal up.
However it seems that Kharaitiyat is made of sterner stuff in the second half of the season as they rallied back strongly in the second half.
Kharaitiyat were awarded a penalty in the 62nd minute, it was the lifeline they were looking for and Mahmoud Saad duly dispatched his effort into the back of the net to level the game as both teams went into the last half hour of play.
Late on, in dramatic fashion Hasan Abd Al Fatah broke Umm Salal hearts with his goal to give Kharaitiyat the lead for the first time in the match. The goal was scored in the 93rd minute with almost the last kick of the ball as the Thunders took all 3 points.
The result sees Kharaitiyat going through a rebirth of sorts with their new head coach Amir Osim at the helm.
Next week Kharaitiyat take on Al Arabi and Salal will face Al Wakrah.