Sports Reporter/Doha


Al Sadd were left ruing a mindless tackle by Mohamed Kasola as Lekhwiya clinched a last-gasp 1-0 win in the Qatar Stars League yesterday.
With just one minute of added time remaining in the second half, the largely scrappy match appeared headed for a draw when Kasola brought down Vladimir Weiss in the box.
That proved Al Sadd’s undoing as Slovakian Weiss coolly slotted the ball past goalkeeper Saad al-Sheeb to help Lekhwiya nail three vital points and jump two clear at the top with 45 points from 19 matches.
With each team scheduled to play seven more matches, there’s still a lot to play for, but Lekhwiya will certainly carry a great deal of confidence over the next few weeks when the QSL enters its final straight.
There was precious little to shout about in the match with both teams proving incapable of producing any outstanding football in a match watched by only about 400 people despite the involvement of two of the best teams in the country.
In fact, it was only in the final few minutes that the players from both sides showed any desperation, with the result that there was finally some hectic goalmouth activity at both ends.
However, goalkeepers al-Sheeb and Amine Lecomte brought off a string of saves before Kasola’s tackle on Weiss sealed the outcome in Lekhwiya’s favour.
The win was the perfect boost Lekhwiya needed, especially after their thrashing by Iran’s Persepolis in the Asian Champions League earlier this week.
Earlier yesterday, El Jaish beat Al Sailiya 3-1 to consolidate their third place with 34 points, with Romarinho twice on target.
The Brazilian struck twice in the first half before Mustafa Mahmood reduced the margin a minute before half-time. But Magid Mohamed found the mark immediately on resumption and El Jaish hung on to clinch a deserving victory.
In another match, Al Arabi and Al Khuratiyat played out a 4-4 draw.






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