Al Sadd continued their excellent run of form and kept up the pressure on Qatar Stars League leaders Lekhwiya by beating strugglers Al Kharaitiyat 1-0 at the Al Khor Stadium yesterday.
Despite Al Kharaitiyat heading into the match with confidence after a valuable win over Al Gharafa in Round 13, it was a superb solo free kick from Al Sadd’s Ibrahim Majed that separated the two teams over the 90 minutes after an underwhelming performance from Al Sadd early on.
Al Sadd came out of the blocks in the first half looking the better team but Al Kharaitiyat began dominating possession after ten minutes of play and should have gone into half time with the lead after a physical 45 minute performance saw The Thunders dominate play and create better chances.
Al Kharaitiyat’s best chance of the first half fell to Lassina Diaby, after he was gifted a chance in the 26th minute when a loose ball from a challenge in the box left the ball at his feet just yards from goal and with plenty of space. Despite getting a fierce shot away it was straight at Al Sadd’s goalkeeper, Saad al-Dosari, who managed to parry the shot to a defender who cleared the ball.
Closer to the break, Al Sadd’s Kasola Mohamed was given a yellow for what replays showed to be a fair challenge. The booking was too much for Al Sadd’s Portuguese coach Jesualdo Ferreira whose frustration at the referee saw him venture out of the coach’s technical area, and he was sent to the stands for dissent.
Al Sadd came out looking a more determined team after the break, dominating possession from the whistle.
In the 74th minute, Al Sadd’s centre-half Majed stepped up for a free kick on the 74th minute from over 30 yards out and hit a fierce shot on his right that smashed into the top right hand corner of the goal, bouncing off the top of post and leaving Al Kharaitiyat’s diving goalkeeper with no chance.
Al Kharaitiyat continued to look for an equaliser right up until the final whistle though and had a shot cleared off the line on the 86th minute. Despite a courageous performance, the equaliser never came though and it finished 1-0 to Al Sadd.

Lekhwiya down Muaither
Lekhwiya handed Muaither their seventh defeat in a row, with a 3-1 win at the Al Gharafa Stadium.
In the 27th minutes, Muaither defender Mohamed Zowayed pulled Ali Afif’s shirt in the box and the referee promptly pointed to the spot. Nam Tae Hee took the penalty and smashed the ball to the left of keeper Basel Zidane to open the scoring.
Just before the half time whistle, Moez Ali doubled Lekhwiya’s lead. Khalid Muftah intercepted a Muaither pass and then passed it to Ali.
The Qatari youngster then took the ball in his stride inside the box and smashed the ball into the net to double his side’s lead.
Muaither came out in the second half looking more determined and forced a double save from Lekhwiya keeper, Claude Amine in the 52nd minute. Ahmed Yassine’s initial shot was deflected into the path of Sako whose effort was also saved.
Ismael Mohamed scored the third goal for the Cops after he got on the end of a Mohamed Tresor cross from the right. The 59th minute goal put the match way beyond the reach of Muaither who are now cemented to the bottom of the table with just nine points.
Alain Dioko scored a consolation goal in the 88th minute after Bruno’s header from a corner was saved by the Lekhwiya keeper. The ball landed into the path of Dioko who tapped it into the goal from close range. The goal was the Congolese veteran’s fourth goal of the season.
The three points cements Lekhwiya’s position as league leader, sitting atop with 36 points.
In the other two matches of the day, Al Gharafa beat Al Ahli 2-0 to regain the fourth spot in the league, while Al Wakrah and El Jaish played out a goalless draw.
Al Gharafa were desperate to capture all three points and maintain their top four position after their shock Round 13 defeat to Al Kharaitiyat left Umm Salal and Al Rayyan snapping at their heals for fourth place.
Al Ahli were not able to continue their winning ways after defeating Muaither in the previous round and stay in the bottom half of the table.
Othman al-Yahri broke the deadlock in the 34th minute with a fine solo goal. In the 84th minute, Mohamed Razaq picked the ball up on the halfway line, took on three defenders and blasted a shot into the bottom left hand corner of the goal to secure the win for Al Gharafa.

RESULTS
Al Kharaitiyat                   0 Al Sadd             1
Muaither                            1 Lekhwiya          3
Al Gharafa                         2 Al Ahli               0
Al Wakrah                         0 El Jaish             0