A lacklustre 10-man Al Duhail suffered a 0-1 loss to Al Wakrah in their second round match of the Qatar Stars League (QSL) at the Khalifa International Stadium Saturday.

Earlier, Umm Salal logged their first points beating Al Shahania 2-0 at the Al Bayt Stadium.

In what turned to be a late evening of woes, Al Duhail first conceded a penalty in the 10th minute and then saw the expulsion of their goalkeeper Salah Zakaria Hassan to a red card after he handled the ball while rushing well outside the penalty box area.

Al Wakrah had gone up the lead with El Amine Zouhzouh converting the spot kick which was gained when he himself was felled by Al Duhail’s Ibrahim Kader during a tackle while being in the striking zone.

But it was the red card to Zakaria which seemed to have put the Red Knights out of sorts. The goalkeeper was caught by surprise when Al Duhail ‘s Jean Charles Victor Castelletto headed a back-pass at him. Zakaria had thrown his left hand at a flying ball in a reflex action.

In the 43rd minute, the Blue Wave scored again from a free-kick taken from just outside the edge of the box. The ball bounced off an Al Wakrah player’s back and who was a part of the defence wall and Redounae Berkane lunged ahead to grab the chance and score. A VAR check, however, found the marginal offside and the goal was disallowed.

In the second session, Al Wakrah had another gasping moment when in the 58th minute Aissa Laidouni’s long ranger thudded into the centre of the crossbar but only to bounce back.

Al Duhail pushed more into defence with a man down and had a fleeting chance in the 80th minute in front of the goal but it didn’t materialize and in continuing action Adel Boulbina attempted an overhead kick but it sailed high over the target.

At the Al Bayt Stadium, Umm Salal scored their opening win of the new season beating Al Shahania 2-0.

Al Shahania were reduced to ten players after Mohamed Bader Sayyar was sent off following a second yellow card in the 61st minute but both of Umm Salal’s goals had come prior to this.

Umm Salal captain and Oussama Tannane scored their first goal (43rd minute), slamming the top of the net from left inside the box. He had received a fine assist from Adil Tahif who dug the ball out before it could cross the goalline.

The Orange Fortress doubled the lead early in the second session (47th minute) with Jean Evrard Kouassi going on and beat the rival goalkeeper after he received a super pass from Antonio Mance.

Later, Mance himself came close to scoring at least twice, but once he shot just wide of the goal and the second time his header was blocked by Al Shahania goalkeeper Shehab Mamdouh Ellethy.

Al Shamal are now on top of the standings with 6 points with Al Gharafa and Qatar SC at two and three (also with 6 points each). Al Wakrah are fourth with 4 points while Al Sadd (5th), Al Rayyan (6th) and Umm Salal (7th) have 3 points each.