Lekhwiya goal scorer Chico Flores (centre) is congratulated by Sebastian Soria (right) after he scored against Al Shamal during their QSL match yesterday. Picture: Mamdouh
By Sports Reporter/Doha
Al Shahaniya have finally managed to put a stop to their string of losses when they defeated Al Wakrah 1-0 in their Qatar Stars League encounter yesterday at the Saoud bin Abdulrahman stadium.
It was a match which was ironically dominated by Wakrah. They ended up with a massive 65 per cent possession but at the final whistle it was Shahaniya who emerged with three points. Wakrah fired eight shots towards goal, with three of them on target while Shahaniya managed just three shots with just one on target but that found the back of the net.
During the pre-match press conference Wakrah coach, Nouredin Zakri had lamented the fact that his team was wasting opportunities in front of the goal during their two-goal loss to Al Kharaitiyat. “We had six opportunities to score. I think we lost a lot of opportunities and if we had scored we would have won the game.” And that would be the same conclusion after this match. Despite controlling majority of the game, his team has come out with zero points.
Despite creating multiple chances, Wakrah were unable to find the back of the net in the first half and Shahaniya were content, warding off the attack. In the second half, the game followed a similar script but in the 57th minute, against the run of play, Fahad Khalfan scored for Shahaniya.
This upset the rhythm of Wakrah and though they quite hard in the closing minutes of the match, they couldn’t change the result.
This was a match that was billed as being played against direct opponents. Because Wakrah were in 12th place and Shahaniya in 13th place. But with this win Shahaniya have now narrowed the gap to just one point and that will be a huge boost in their attempt to avoid relegation.
Lekhwiya beat Shamal
In the other match of the day Lekhwiya defeated Al Shamal 1-0 thanks to a Chico Flores header in the 33rd minute. Lekhwiya had suffered a shock defeat at the hands of El Jaish in the previous round and that result had seen them drop to second in the rankings. But this win sees them climb to the top spot and they will now have to await the result of the match between Al Sadd and Al Arabi tomorrow to see if they can hold on to this spot.
Though the scoreline suggests a narrow win, the match was dominated by Lekhwiya who had 59 per cent of the possession and had 14 shots on goal with six on target. Shamal on the other hand could only manage 7 shots with 3 on target. It was a clear indicator that this was a match between two teams at the opposite ends of the table.
For Shamal, their dismal run in their first season of the QSL continues, as they have now gone for 18 matches without a victory. Shamal looks certain to be relegated this season, with just seven points from 18 matches and new coach Dragan Cvetkovic will have to conjure up some miracles if they are to avoid the drop.
