Duhail beat Wakrah to go four points clear

Yousef Ayman’s early goal helped Al Duhail to a 1-0 win over Al Wakrah yesterday as the Red Knights extended their lead in the QNB Stars League to four points. Ayman scored in the third minute for Duhail as the leaders benefitted from second-placed Al Arabi’s 2-3 loss to Qatar SC.
Ayman, who was left unmarked, made the most of opportunity as nodded the ball into the net after a pass from Khaled Mohamed following a quick corner kick. Jolted by the early setback, Al Wakrah battled hard and had many chances, but they could not capitalize on them as the Blue Wave stayed at fourth place.
Duhail too were found wanting at crucial moments. In the 20th minute, striker Almoez Ali had a golden chance from a brilliant cross while in the centre of the box, but failed to beat an onrushing goalkeeper Saoud al-Khater.
Later, in the 38th minute it was Wakrah’s Khaled Munir who could not control his shot when provided with a good chance in front of the goal. Almoez went close again in the 50th minute but his shot was saved by al-Khater.
Two minutes later, Wakrah’s Mohamed Benyettou found the net but the goal was ruled out for off-side. Wakrah were more attacking in the second half, but lacked a good finish. Jacinto Dala was their most hard-working player and on one occasion even tried to essay a bicycle kick but couldn’t succeed.
Duhail kept breaking through the rival defence in between and in the 69th minute, Michael Olunga took a long shot, but his ferocious kick sailed over the crossbar. The dying minutes of the match saw some frenetic action and Wakrah again had to rue their luck as Lucas Mendes’ free-kick broke through the wall, but curled a bit too much to go away from the right goal post.
Later, Arabi’s title hopes suffered a huge blow after losing to Qatar SC for their second successive defeat. The win saw Qatar SC continue their winning run shown since the return of the league post the World Cup break. They led 2-1 at half time.
While Omar al-Emadi (13th minute), Nasir Peer Baksh (18th minute) and Ben Malango Ngite (69th minute) scored for Qatar SC, the goal-scorers for Al Arabi were Helal Mohamed (25th minute) and Aron Gunnarsson (82nd minute).
Gunnarsson’s goal created a flutter, charging up Al Arabi and they tried their best to get an equaliser towards the end. The scamper for Qatar SC was intensified after Bashar Resan was shown red card in the 88th minute for a foul on Gunnarsson. The ten-man QSC then had to deal with another 7 minutes of added time. They even survived from scoring an own goal in the dying seconds of the match when a rebound from a defender rolled on and hit the left post before being collected by their goalkeeper Sataa al-Abbasi.
Eventually, Qatar SC were left to celebrate their third successive win which has now taken them to the third spot in the rankings with 19 points from 10 matches. Arabi are second from 11 matches with 22 points.

Rayyan back to winning ways
Al Rayyan returned to winning ways by beating Al Shamal 2-1, which moved them one place to 10th in the points table. Yohan Boli (14th minute) and Osama al-Tairi (42nd minute) scored for Rayyan, while Shamal’s goal was scored by Loick Landre (45th minute).
Boli gave Rayyan the lead after slotting a home a pass from Mohamed Seraj. The Lions doubled the lead through al-Tairi. However, Al Shamal managed to pull one back in the last minute of first half through Landre’s good shot from outside the penalty area.
In the second half, Rayyan were the better side despite some missed opportunities by Boli and young Tamim Mansour Muftah. As the match wore on, Shamal could not do much in their bid for an equaliser, as they failed to repeat their excellent performance at the beginning of the season.