Al Khor claimed a hard-fought point against Al Shahania to escape relegation from the Qatar Stars League yesterday.
The 1-1 result however meant Al Shahania will head into the final round of the season knowing their fate is sealed as they will be relegated along with Muaither SC and Al Wakrah.
Both sides headed into the fixture high on confidence following big wins in round 24, and both were equally desperate for three points as they looked to avoid relegation. Al Khor knew that a point would be enough to secure their safety while Al Shahania needed three points to entertain any hopes of survival going into the final round of the season.
Al Khor looked the brighter of the two teams and began piling on the pressure from the whistle, forcing Al Shahania to sit deep in their own half. Despite dominating, it was actually Al Shahania who found the back of the net first thanks to a counter-attack against the run of play. With 17 minutes on the clock, Al Shahania’s Saoud Mohamed found the net after evading the offside trap, leaving him with an easy finish from just 12 yards out to give his team a 1-0 lead.
Despite going behind, Al Khor didn’t let their heads drop and continued to press deep into Al Shahania’s half. In the 34th minute, Al Khor’s Brazilian playmaker Madson split Al Shahania’s defence in two with a perfectly weighted through ball that Al Khor’s Mouhssin lajour latched onto, taking one touch before skillfully stabbing it over Al Shahania’s goalkeeper to level the scores.
The game began to balance out in terms of possession but neither side was able to find the back of the net again but Al Khor were not complaining as they had achieved what they had set out to do.
Meanwhile, already relegated Al Wakrah and Umm Salal played out a 2-2 draw.
Umm Salal opened the scoring in the 16th minute courtesy of Yannick Sagbo. Faouzi Aaish squared the ball to Sagbo from the right and the Ivorian striker showed great instincts and deflected the ball into the goal from close range to make it 1-0 for the Orange Fortress.
Mohsine Moutouali then equalised for Al Wakrah in the thirty-first minute. After bringing down a cross from teammate Maher Yousef at the edge of the box, the Moroccan midfielder smashed the ball into the right side of the net to make it 1-1.
Ten minutes later Al Wakrah defender Mohamed Arafa brought down Umm Salal’s Mahmoud Mawas inside the box to give away a penalty. Sagbo stepped up for the penalty and coolly slotted it in the bottom right corner sending the keeper the wrong way to score his second goal of the game.
Al Wakrah did not give up the fight and were rewarded with a goal in the second half. In the 64th  minute, Maher Yousef got his name on the score sheet with a wonder strike to bring his side level. The Qatari forward was outside the box on the left side before he sent the ball into the far bottom corner of the net with a powerful shot from distance to end the match at 2-2.
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