Action from the match between El Jaish and Wakrah. (Below) Action from the match between Kharaitiyat and Sailiya. PICTURES: Noushad Thekkayil

By Sports Reporter
Doha


A three-minute brace from substitute Sardor Rashidov helped El Jaish come from a goal down and claim a 2-1 win over Al Wakrah at the Saoud Bin Abdulrahman Stadium.
Jaish had come into this match looking to extend their three-match winning run while Wakrah were coming off a keenly fought 2-1 win over Al Gharafa. Both teams were riding high on confidence but Jaish, clearly the better team on paper, started off in the same way on the pitch too. They were dominating ball possession and creating chances too but couldn’t convert any. The best chance fell to Abderrazzaq Hamedallah when he received a great pass inside the box from Romarinho but the Moroccan chose to flick the ball and it went wide. Hamedallah who has been in stellar form for Jaish scoring eight goals already couldn’t convert this one.   
Then in the 31st minute Hamedallah, who seem to have suffered a niggle, had to be replaced by Wagner Ribeiro.
All the goals were scored in the second half. And it was Wakrah who took the unlikely lead, against the run of play through Sebastian Saez in the 64th minute.
Jaish were back to dominating the game but it took until the 82nd minute to score the first goal. Romarinho robbed the ball off Wakrah’s Ruben Amorim and then passes to Rashidov who placed it in the far corner of the goal. And then three minutes later it was the combination of Romarinho and Rashidov which produced the second goal. The Uzbekistani had come on as a substitute in the 57th minute and produced a great performance to turn the game around.
Though Wakrah tried to produce a few counter attacks, they couldn’t recover from this Rashidov brace and were left ruing their defensive mistakes which led to this loss.
Jaish now have extended their winning streak to four matches and things seem to be clicking for the Soldiers at the right time. They will be definitely looking to challenge for the title this season.

Kharaitiyat beat Sailiya
Al Kharaitiyat warded off a late charge from Al Sailiya to register a 2-1 win. This was only their second victory this season but, more importantly, it put an end to Kharaitiyat’s five-match winless streak which included four losses.   
Kharaitiyat scored on both sides of the break. The first goal came late in the first half. Mohamed Ibrahim Al-abdulla made a good run into the box and then crossed to Hassan Abdelfattah Mahmoud who connected with a good volley to give his team the lead.
In the second half, in the 67th minute, Kharaitiyat doubled their lead. Skipper Abdallah Abdel Albattat delivered a long pass from the deep right into the box where defender Domingos got to the end of it and guided it into the net. It was a rare scenario of two defenders combining to score a goal. Sailiya coach Sami Trabelsi didn’t look a happy man because Domingos had an unmarked run at the back there.
But just when it looked like Kharaitiyat were heading towards a comfortable win, a glaring error from keeper Ahmed Sufyan reduced the deficit. In the 70th minute, a long ball from the deep saw Sufyan come out and jump to collect the ball. But he misjudged the height and Eder Luciano was able to head the ball into the back of the net. Sufyan was seen explaining later that the light got into his eyes because of which he wasn’t able to judge the ball properly.
After this goal Sailiya players lifted their game and started pressurizing the Kharaitiyat defence but though they tried hard, the equalizer evaded them. Sailia have now endured two back to back losses and with their match to be played against Al Ahli, they will have to bounce back quickly.

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