Defending champions Al Rayyan benefit from Al Wakrah own goal to score 1-0 win

Al Sailiya brought Al Gharafa’s eight-game unbeaten run to a shuddering halt with a 2-1 win at Al Ahli stadium yesterday.
Sami Trabelsi’s men scored two first half goals for only their second win of the tournament.
 Al Sailiya scored the first goal of the game early on as they took the lead in the eighth minute. The returning Bahrain international Faouzi Aaish chested down a long ball inside the box and then took it past two defenders before easing it past the keeper.
Al Sailiya doubled their advantage in the 36th minute with a wonderfully worked goal. It came after a brilliant bit of interplay between the Sailiya forwards. Aaish sent a cross to Sayaf Mohsin, who headed it towards Mohamed Mudather who leaped into the air and scored with an improvised shot with his right foot dumbfounding the goalkeeper.
Gharafa pushed on in the second half and switched to a more attacking formation to reduce the deficit. Abdulghani Munir had two chances to score in the 53rd minute but both his efforts were saved by Sailiya keeper Gregory Gomis.
Pedro Caixinha’s men pulled one back in the 65th minute with a goal from Vladmir Weiss. Moayed Hassan sent a ball over to the Slovakian international who controlled it and waited for the keeper to make a move before curving the ball into the far corner to make it 2-1.
Gharafa pushed hard for an equaliser but Sami Trabelsi’s side held on to inflict Al Gharafa’s first defeat in eight QSL games. The win takes Sailiya up to seventh place with twelve points from 11 games, while Pedro Caixinha’s Al Gharafa stay in fourth with 20 points.
Meanwhile, reigning champions Al Rayyan needed an own goal by Al Wakrah’s Abdulrahman Fakhroo to post a 1-0 win in a tough encounter.
Playing their first game after the 5-0 thrashing at the hands of Al Sadd, Al Rayyan stitched together a couple of impressive moves in the opening exchanges of the tie.  Veteran striker Sebastian Soria fired a bullet towards the Al Wakrah goal but goalkeeper Mohamed Enyass dived to his right to block the shot.
In a shocking run of play, Al Wakrah conceded an own goal in the 34th minute. Defender Fakhroo, under pressure from Sergio Garcia of Al Rayyan mistakenly tapped the ball into his own net following a corner kick that had sailed above the goalkeeper’s head.
For the first time in almost two hours on the pitch, Al Rayyan players broke into smiles as coach Michael Laudrup watched from the touchline presenting a sombre look.
Rayyan could have doubled their lead on the 35th minute. Sebastian Soria charged towards the goal but defender Mohamed Arafa produced a well-timed tackle to kill the threatening move inside his own box.
In the 55th minute, Soria again wasted a golden opportunity to score for Al Rayyan. Soria charged into the Al Wakrah box and dribbled past Wakrah keeper Enyass who had darted off from the goal-line.
Thankfully Al Wakrah defenders Fakroo and Sultan al-Bareek offered stiff resistance as Soria ran out of gas while trying to flick the ball into an open net.