Al Duhail beat Al Arabi 3-1 to extend the lead at the top to four points in the QNB Stars League at the Abdullah bin Khalifa Stadium on Thursday. It was a keen tussle between two strong teams with second-placed Arabi aiming to take the lead but goals from Nam Tae-hee (7th minute), Almoez Ali (37th minute) and Michael Olunga (90+2 minute) gave Duhail fifth successive win the league. For Al Arabi the sole successful strike came from Hamid Ismail in the 25th minute.
Al Arabi were also reduced to 10 men after Omar al-Somah received a red card for his tackle on Youssef Ayman of Al Duhail while going for a header in the 78th minute. Al Duhail got into business straightaway at the start with their South Korean striker Nam Tae-hee, who was left unmarked, making the most of a Ferjani Sassi assist to score from the left.
Al Arabi replied with a fine goal from Ismail, who latched on to a fine high ball from Helal Mohamed before controlling it and moving past a defender to beat the rival goalkeeper. The equaliser brought the Al Arabi fans to their feet at the stadium.
The joy was however shortlived as twelve minutes later a defensive lapse saw the ball go towards a waiting Almoez Ali, who gleefully short from the right to give Al Duhail the lead.
The second half saw intense battle between the two sides and slew of yellow cards were flashed.
Al Arabi tried hard but they could not break the rival defence.
In the 89th minute, Mohamed Ismail of Al Duhail had a shy at the goal but his not so strong kick was cut off by a defender. In the end, Almoez won the ball in a challenge to Marc Muniesa and ran down from the centre line to beat the lone goalkeeper for more joy to Al Duhail fans.
Earlier at same venue, Al Shamal stunned fourth-placed Qatar SC 3-0. Yacine Bammou (38th minute), Amjad Atwan (73rd minute) and Matias Nani (86th minute penalty) scored the goals as Al Shamal moved to ninth.
In another match, Al Rayyan and Umm Salal played out a thrilling 1-1 draw. Yohan Boli had put Al Rayyan ahead in the 25th minute before Umm Salal hit back in the second half, scoring through Yassin Al Bakhit in the 70th minute.
