Sports Reporter/Doha

Action from the fifth Qatar National Hockey League on Friday
Shabab Qatar maintained their unbeaten run in the fifth Qatar National Hockey League. In an exciting encounter on Friday they overcame the combined force of last years finalists, the Wanderers Rayyan Hockey Team 2-1. Shabab finished the league rounds with 15 points while Fowriya Gateway sneaked past Wanderers with a superior goal difference, though both finished with 10 points. For three times champions Wanderers, this must be disappointing as they are missing the finals for the first time in the five year history of the tournament.
The Shabab team have 7 boys from the Tahir Zaman Academy, 2 Malaysian youngsters,   2 Qatari boys Yousef Sulaiti and Hamad Sahoti, and 7 Doha school boys Salman Khan, Omar Abbasi, Hamood Patel, Hadi Patel, Azaan Nazer, Hunain and Aditya Dinesh. The team with an average age of less than 20,  have had a  dream run. It is a rich reward for the hard work put in by the team and coaches Shaiful and Maggid during the whole year.
Wanderers put in their best display of the Season and had the upper hand in a well contested encounter but the Shabab defence withstood the pressure. 21-year-old veteran Nur Hafeeq marshalled the Shabab defence with Muhamed Anwar bottling up former  Air India player Savio Nayak and Sohail Mustaffa ensuring that the dangerous Rohit Charles was kept in check. However Rajat Sharma a junior guest player from India, with a lot of potential did create anxious moments for the Shabab defence but then he had to encounter a charged up Shehzad Ali in the Shabab goal.
Shabab started the game in style. In the second minute a  dummy by Nazmi, ensured that the unmarked Ideal Indian School boy Hamood got the ball. Hamood in one swift moment crossed to PEC student Omar Abbasi who beat a diving Shanon in the Wanderers goal.
Thereafter Wanderers took control and of an indirect penalty corner Rohit Charles tapped the ball in. The boys fought back and slowly started taking control of the mid-field with  Sheraz Ali scoring the second in the 29th minute. It was a well directed  scorching shot that gave the defence no chance.  The boys held control of the game in the first 15 minutes of the second half but with Wanderers pushing many of their players forward, there were several unsuccessful attempts at goal.
Former Rayyan Club stars Nadeem and Rizwan did make some dangerous runs but the youngsters were equal to the occasion. Juned too did make some defence splitting passes but the Shabab team came out winners. Both team got 6 penalty corners each. The game was well controlled by Umpires Brian Rouse and Adrian Boote.
Earlier Fowriya Gateway overcame a subdued DHC-1 , 5-2 with Waseem scoring twice and Usman, Abdul Azeez and Shahzad Nasser scoring one each.