Sagbo’s superb treble powers Umm Salal to top of QNB Stars League

Yannick Sagbo scored a hat-trick as Umm Salal eased past Al Arabi 4-1 to leap to the top of the standings with 10 points in the QNB Stars League yesterday.The Ivorian striker found the net twice in the first half (7th and 41st minute) and then pretty much put the issue beyond doubt with a 57th minute strike as Umm Salal recorded their third win in four matches.Adil Rhaili scored the fourth goal for Umm Salal in the 60th minute before Mardik Mardikian pulled one back for Al Arabi in the 75th.Umm Salal’s lead could be short-lived if defending champions Al Duhail and Al Sadd earn full points from their games today.Meanwhile, Al Gharafa put an end to their disappointing start to the season with a comprehensive 3-0 victory at home to Al Khor in the first QNB Stars League game played after the international break. Vladimir Weiss scored a brace and Diogo Amado was on target once as Al Gharafa securedthree points.As if to add insult to injury,Al Khor goalkeeper Amin Lecomte will now be suspended after receiving a straight red card.The match at the Al Gharafa Stadium started off evenly, with the first real chance coming from Al Gharafa’s Othman al-Yahiri, whose speculative effort from distance was parried by Amin. Halfway through the first half, it was Amado, who gave the home side the lead after he neatly headed home a cross following some good attacking play by Yousuf Muftah. With only 24 minutes on the clock, the game was effectively ended as a contest when Amin was given the marching orders for bringing down Moayad Fedaily just outside the box, leaving Al Khor to play the rest of the game with 10 men.Vladimir Weiss doubled the advantage in the second half. After collecting a lofted through ball, he smartly rounded the goalkeeper and confidently fired home with two Al Khor defenders on the line. Less than 10 minutes later, the Slovak’s surging run from outside the area saw him taking on four rival defenders before firing low into the bottom left hand corner to seal the win.Al Gharafa will be delighted with the win to get their turbulent season up and running, while The Knights will be disappointed and now look to next week’s home fixture against Al Markhiya.In the last match of the day, Al Sailiya defeated Al Kharaitiyat 2-1 to to go second with nine points.Uzbek striker Temurkhuja Abdulkholikov helped Al Sailiya equalise in the 40th minute after Moroccan Rachid Tiberkanine had put Al Kharaitiyat ahead in the 37th minute.Brazilian Wagner Ribeiro however struck in the 65th minute to help Al Sailiya clinch a tough win.