Al Sadd’s Nadir Belhadj (right) in action during his team’s match against Al Khor yesterday. RIGHT: Ahli’s Mojtaba Jabari celebrates after scoring from the spot yesterday. PICTURES: Noushad Thekkayil.
By Sports Reporter/Doha
Al Sadd were held to a frustrating goalless draw against Al Khor at the Jassim bin Hamad Stadium. And this was despite Khor playing with 10 men for the last 14 minutes of the game.
During the pre-match conference, Sadd coach Hussein Ammouta had spoken about the need to convert more of their chances. “They (our strikers) had many, many chances to finish the game but they didn’t convert their chances,” Ammouta had said about his team’s match against Qatar Sports Club. Sadd had won that match but that failure to convert chances cost them two points in this match.
At the end of the match, Sadd had ended up with 68 per cent possession and a staggering 20 shots on goal out of which seven were on target. But they couldn’t convert their dominance into three points. Khor were resolute in their defence but it was more the lack of finishing that proved to be the downfall for Sadd.
As the possession percentage indicated, the match was dominated by Sadd. Sadd striker Muriqui was the target for the crosses into the middle but either they were beyond him or when he did get to the end of it, the finishing was not on par.
In fact one of the clear chances fell to Khor in the 42nd minute when Madson fired a shot from inside the box but it was wide off the target. The Brazilian could have done better with that attempt.
Then a few minutes later Sadd star Xavi had his shot saved by Khor keeper Baba Kane.
In the second half, the game stuck to the same script – Sadd mounting wave after wave of attack but faltering in the final one-thirds and Khor defending tooth and nail while looking for the sneaky counter attack.
The momentum shifted when Naif Mubarak got his marching orders after receiving the second yellow of the mark. From there the match was even more increasingly played in the Khor half. In the 88th minute Sadd could have ended their misery when an Abdelkereem Hassan found himself unmarked and at the end of a perfect ball from a corner. But the Sadd defender skewed his shot and though the ball fell kindly for Khalfan Ibrahim, the diminutive striker ended up shooting over the bar.
Two minutes later Xavi produced a great freekick but Khor keeper Kane produced an even better save. And then just a minute later Kane saved a header from Ibrahim. The four minutes of added time didn’t help Sadd and coach Ammouta and the supporters were seeing expressing their frustration.
After the final whistle, Khor fans were seen celebrating the result while Sadd will be ruing their missed chances. They have now dropped to third in the table after this result. Khor on the other hand have held on to score their second point of this QSL season.
Ahli down Qatar SC
Al Ahli put in a strong performance against beleaguered Qatar Sports Club to register a 3-0 win at the Hamad bin Khalifa Stadium. All three goals came in the second half but it was the two goals in two minutes towards the end of the match that sealed the deal for the home side.
The match could have taken a different note had Qatar SC striker Mouhssine Jajour converted his chance right at the start of the game. He found himself one on one with Ahli keeper Amer Dosari but Jajour ended up with a weak shot straight at the keeper.
After this stutter Ahli started taking control of the match. They had a couple of close chances in the first half but couldn’t convert them. Qatar SC too were creating their moves but were lacking the bite in the danger areas. The first half ended with Ahli having 57 per cent of the possession but Qatar SC were still in the game.
All of that changed dramatically in the second half. It began in the 48th minute. Qatar SC keeper Mohamed Mubarak first denied Meshal Abdullah with a great one-handed save. The ball fell to Mojtaba Jabari whose shot was cleared off the line by Khalid Zakiba. But then Pedro Correia was hacked down by Shaheed Mahmoud inside the box and the referee had no hesitation in pointing to the spot. Jabari converted in the 50th minute to give Ahli the lead.
Then in the 79th minute Ndombe Mubele, who was constantly causing problems for the Qatar SC defence, was brought down by Fadhl Said inside the penalty area and Ahli were awarded a penalty. This time Meshal Abdullah stepped up and scored in the 82nd minute. The ball hit the bar and dropped inside the goal and had to be adjudged as a goal by the linesman.
Then just two minutes later, Mubele crossed to Abdulla Kuwari who had come on as a substitute and the diminutive player calmly put it into back of the net to score against his former club.
Ahli have registered their second win of this season while Qatar SC are now propping up the table with their fifth loss so far.
UMM SALAL BEAT SAILIYA
In the other match of the day played earlier, Umm Salal defeated Al Sailiya 2-1. It was Sailiya who took the lead in the 31st minute through Mostafa Mohamed. Ismael Mardanli equalised for Salal in the 47th minute. But the match turned on its head when Sailiya’s Faouzi Mubarak received a red card in the 54th minute. Salal were then able to dominate proceedings and scored the winning goal in the 79th minute through Jeremie Aliadiere. Umm Salal have climbed two spots to fifth with this result while Sailiya have dropped two to go to 10th.