Lekhwiya’s Sebastian Soria (left) vies for the ball with Al Wakrah’s Ismail Belmaalem during their Qatar Stars League match yesterday. PICTURE: Jayan Orma

By Sports Reporter/Doha

Both Lekhwiya and Al Sadd squandered two-goal advantages to drop points against Al Wakrah and Al Sailiya respectively in the Qatar Stars League yesterday as the title race approaches the business end.
A 92nd minute penalty conceded by Lekhwiya proved their undoing as Mouchine Moutouali scored from the spot to give basement side Al Wakrah an unlikely 2-2 draw.
Sadd had led 2-0 courtesy an impressive free-kick by Hasan al-Haydos and a volley from just outside penalty area by Yusef Ahmed but a timely header by Issam Jemaa ensured Sailiya went into the break on a high.
Twenty minutes into the second half Abdulrahman al-Hurazzi scored the leveller and neither of the teams was able to break the deadlock.
With yesterday’s draw Sailiya moved up a spot to eighth position.
Al Wakrah are placed 13th in the 14-team tournament with just 17 points from 21 matches, with Al Shamal languishing at the bottom on just seven from 20 games.
Lekhwiya, who were four clear of Sadd before yesterday’s match with 48 points, appeared to have consolidated their grip on the title after Sebastian Soria and Mohamed Razaq had given them a two-goal cushion by the time the match was 35 minutes old.
But after Ahmed Kaheel had pulled one back in the 39th minute and Lekhwiya had missed quite a few chances in the second half, the holders saw their campaign suffer a hiccup when Mohamed Abdullah handled the ball while trying to thwart a dangerous situation in second-half injury-time.
Moutouali, who took the shot, easily beat the Lekhwiya goalkeeper to give them their fifth draw as they struggle to avoid relegation.
There was no doubt about Lekhwiya’s superiority, though. They stamped their class on the match quite early and were rewarded in the fifth minute through a simple header by Soria who nodded the ball in off a cross by Korean Nam Tae-hee.
Lekhwiya’s second goal, however, came in a slightly dramatic fashion. Wakrah goalkeeper Hassan Idriss Dicko failed to grab a routine shot cleanly in the 35th minute and Razaq stabbed the ball comfortably home.
The match looked settled for Lekhwiya, but Wakrah hit back through a goal by Ahmed Kaheel four minutes later before the late penalty gave them a rare draw.
Third-placed El Jaish also earned only a point from their match against Al Khor which ended in a goalless draw. While the draw made no difference to Jaish’s position, Khor moved up a place to ninth position.