Al Duhail’s title hopes took a setback after stumbling to a shock 2-0 defeat to Al Gharafa in the QNB Stars League at the Al Gharafa Stadium on Friday night.
The Red Knights are second in the table, a point behind Al Arabi but have a game in hand. Gharafa, meanwhile, moved into top four. Ishak Belfodil (62nd minute) and Mouyad Hassan (90+6 minute) scored the goals for Gharafa. The Cheetahs showed aggressive intent right from the start and made the most of their chances, whereas Duhail failed to find the target at crucial junctures.
The first big chance for Gharafa came in the 23rd minute when their Algerian star Yacine Brahimi weaved his way through to pass the ball to Ahmed Alaaeldin in great position, but he was foiled by advancing Duhail goalkeeper Salah Zakaria.
Duhail then had their chance in the 39th minute when Suhaib Gannan made a fine pass from near the goalline to Ferjani Sassi, whose kick deflected the ball, but it just went past the right post. Ferjani had another chance in the 44th minute getting a cross from the right inside the box, but his kick this time hit the crossbar right in the centre to fall down straight but missed crossing the goal post line by a whisker.
The close finishes seemed to have unnerved Duhail as Gharafa continued to attack in the second session and they got the reward part the hour mark when Belfodil dribbled past a challenging defender to successfully strike to the right of the net. Trying to equalise, Duhail were more aggressive, but were not clinical. In the 67th minute, a powerful Karim Boudiaf kick went over the bar and, two minutes later, he again could not find the target with another kick.
In the 79th minute, Ferjani was provided with a super cross but, this time too he shot over the post. With Duhail frantic, Gharafa seized another moment in stoppage time as Mouyad struck powerfully from well outside the box to rattle the left of the net, much to the delight of celebrating home fans.

Al Sailiya hold Al Rayyan
In other game on Friday, Al Sailiya held Al Rayyan to a thrilling 2-2 draw. All four goals came in the opening half of the match as Yohan Boli (fifth minute) and Abdulaziz Hatem (25th minute) scored the goals for Rayyan, Mohamed Diame (45+1) and Carlos Standberg (45+5 penalty) fetched the goals for Sailiya. Rayyan are ninth in the league standings with 17 points from as many games, while Sailiya are 12th with 10 points from 19 matches.
Ivory Coast star Boli began the proceedings for The Lions by scoring with a fine dipping header, off a long Sofiane Boufal cross, which went over the goalkeeper right in the centre of the goal.
Their second goal followed as Hatem picked on the ball after a move from the right. He collected it high and transferred it from his right foot to the left before sending in a telling diagonal kick into the right corner.
Having taken the substantial lead, Rayyan, however, failed to produce a good defence against the charging Peregrines. Sailiya’s efforts bore fruits in the added time when a free-kick action resulted in two headed attempts when the tall Diame lunged in to essay a fine right-foot kick on the volley to score.
Minutes later, Sailiya benefited from a rival team foul as the referee called for a penalty following a VAR review. And their Swede star Strandberg scored coolly to draw parity at 2-2. The second half failed to break the deadlock as both sides defended strongly and had to be content with a point each.