By Sports Reporter/Doha


Al Sadd maintained their slim one-point lead over Lekhwiya in the Qatar Stars League after a tense 2-1 win over Al Arabi at the Jassem bin Hamad Stadium yesterday.
With the title almost certain to go either Al Sadd’s or Lekhwiya’s way – both teams being way ahead of the pack in the rankings – neither can afford slip ups as the tournament enters a crucial phase with eight matches remaining.
In the last five years these two teams have played 10 times against each other in the Qatar Stars League, both teams have won four times each with two matches ending in a draw. But yesterday, Al Sadd broke clear with the fifth win, courtesy of goals from talisman Khalfan Ibrahim and Hassan al-Haydos in each half.Al Sadd dominated the exchanges but also missed a few chances to increase the margin of their win, while Al Arabi, too, could have caused an upset with some luck.
Al Sadd had a good chance to go ahead early in the match when a poor clearance by the Al Arabi goalkeeper Rajab Hamza saw Khalfan pounce on the ball and pass to Abdulkarim Hassan. Hassan, however, hurried with his shot and sent the ball crashing into the post from close.
Two minutes later, Khalfan’s brother Ahmed, playing for Al Arabi, was left unmarked in the penalty area, but he could only find the side netting with his shot.Al Sadd finally broke the deadlock through Khalfan in the 43rd minute, thanks to a fine effort on the left flank by al-Haydos who speedily cut in and deftly avoided a defender before passing the ball to Khalfan who did the needful with a clever placement to the low left corner of the net.
Al-Haydos was in the thick of the action later in the 64th minute, burying a low shot into the net off a pass from Grafite for Al Sadd’s second goal.
Al Arabi, however, did not give up the fight and continued pressing forward in the hope of scoring only their sixth win in 17 matches.
But although a fine header by Ahmed Shahdad off a corner by Boualem Khoukhi in the 87th minute gave them some consolation, Al Sadd held on to their lead to come away with three crucial points.
Earlier El Jaish suffered a shock 2-1 defeat at the hands of Al Ahli. It was the second straight defeat for the Armymen, who had crashed out of the Asian Champions League earlier this week. Wagner Ribeiro put El Jaish ahead in the sixth minute but Dioko Kaluyituka and Pedro Corriea found the target late in the game to give Al Ahli their eighth win in 18 matches.Al Ahli are now fifth on the table with 26 points behind Al Sadd, Lekhwiya, El Jaish and Qatar Sports Club.