Al Sadd ease past Sailiya to go top of QSL

Al Sadd moved to the top of the Qatar Stars League standings with a clinical 3-1 victory over Al Sailiya yesterday at the Qatar Sports Club Stadium.
Sadd grabbed two goals in the first half from Morteza Pouraliganji and Xavi before substitute Khalfan Ibrahim completed his side’s tally late in the second session.
Al Sailiya did find a late consolation goal from Qatari midfielder Sayaf al-Korbi and also missed a stoppage time penalty as Al Sadd maintained their unbeaten start to the season.
Al Sadd now have 30 points from 12 matches, two more than El Jaish who have slipped to third position after suffering two recent defeats.
The Wolves started the tie on the front foot and tested Al Sailiya keeper Gregory Gomis in the fifth minute. Striker Baghdad Bounedjah knocked a ball across the penalty box to Ali Asad, but the Qatar international’s shot was knocked away by Gomis.
However, from the resulting corner, Xavi found the head of Iranian international Morteza Pouraliganji who leapt ahead of Al Sailiya defender Dragos Grigore and planted the ball into the back of the net with just six minutes on the clock.
Jesualdo Ferreira’s side deservedly doubled their lead in the 33rd minute as Xavi scored his sixth of the season with a low drive into the bottom left hand corner. A well-timed through ball from Bounedjah fell to the Al Sadd captain who made no mistake from close range.
Al Sadd slowly began to grow in confidence and did have the ball in the net for a third time, but Bounedjah was judged offside. Moments later, the Wolves substitute Khalfan scored his second goal in as many games with a standout piece of play in the 74th minute. The Al Sadd star started the move and exchanged a neat one-two with Bounedjah before showing plenty of composure to slot the ball past Gomis to give his side a three-goal lead.
Sayaf al-Korbi pulled a goal back for Sailiya with three minutes to play, drilling the ball into the right hand corner after it was neatly passed to him by substitute Paul Efoulou. Sailiya could have had the second goal of the evening from the penalty spot, but Paul Efoulou’s effort was saved by Saad al-Sheeb.
Meanwhile, League strugglers Al Shahania and Al Khor took a point each after drawing 2-2 at Al Arabi Stadium.
Both teams came into the tie desperately needing three points with Al Shahania becoming draw specialists after registering three ties in their last five QSL matches and Al Khor losing their last five games and heading towards relegation.
After a lacklustre opening which saw not a single shot on goal, Al Khor took the lead after they were gifted a penalty following some poor defending from The Oryxes.
Sloppy passing between Al Shahania’s back four handed Al Khor’s Babou Sidiki the ball on the edge of the 18 yard box and allowed him to run at goal. Before Sidiki was able to get a shot away he was tripped by a backtracking Nabeel Anwa and the referee was quick to blow for a penalty.
Al Khor’s Brazilian defender Welinton Souza stepped up and sent the goalkeeper the wrong way to give The Knights a one-goal lead.
Al Khor made it two just before the break after yet more defensive errors from Shahania. After a cross was whipped into the 18 yard box from the right wing, Al Khor’s Reza Shanbeh Najafi found himself with acres of space at the back post and was able to find young striker Ali Abdulkarem, who was unmarked and able to help the ball across the line from a yard out to bag his first goal of the season.
Al Shahania came out after the break with a determined look about them and started pressing from the whistle. Their sustained pressure paid off on the 61st minute when on-loan Qatari striker Fahad Khalfan hit a lightening free kick from 22 yards out that smashed into the top right hand corner of the goal.
Nine minutes later Al Shahania grabbed a well-deserved equaliser after Al Khor’s captain Mostafa Jafri failed to deal with a long goal-kick from Al Shahania’s al-Dosari. Thinking his goalkeeper was coming out to take the ball, Jafri left it to bounce but failed to realise that Al Shahania’s Khaled Gourmi was chasing him down. Khaled managed to poke the ball from between Jafri’s legs before his keeper could reach it and it trickled into the back of the net to make it 2-2.