Al Arabi’s Wilfried Bony was the hero as they came from behind to record an entertaining 3-2 victory away to Al Sailiya in Week 18 of the QNB Stars League at the Al Ahli Stadium yesterday.
Al Arabi scored through Bony (12th and 80th minutes) and Victor Vazquez in the 78th. Al Sailiya’s goals came from a Morteza Pouraliganji own goal in the 53rd minute and Abdulkadir Ilyas in the 61st.
The night got off to a lively start when Bony latched onto a loose ball in the penalty area before rounding Saoud al-Khater in goal and giving his team an early lead. Bilal Saidani nearly got his side back on level terms shortly after. However, his close-range effort was brilliantly intercepted by Gregory Gomis in the Al Arabi goal.
Shortly after the restart, The Peregrines were level when Fahad Yousef skipped into the box from the left and his square pass was unfortunately converted into his own goal by Morteza.
It did not take long for them to capitalise on this again as Yousef, in almost identical fashion, skipped past the Al Sailiya defence and squared the ball across the box, but this time Ilyas was on hand to slide it home.
As the clock was ticking down, Al Sailiya got themselves back on level terms when Vazquez reacted quickest to a deep free-kick and headed home unmarked at the back post.
With barely enough time to catch breath, Al Arabi secured all three points when Musab Keder surged down the right before laying off the ball to Bony who, in composed fashion, glided past his marker and struck his shot inside the far post.

Khor take three points against Umm Salal
In the other match of the day, Al Khor secured a vital victory to bring themselves closer to safety as they overcame Umm Salal 1-0 yesterday.
The only goal of the game came from Wagner Ferreira in the 62nd minute at the Al Khor Stadium.
Al Khor now have 15 points, while Umm Salal stayed on 20. 
On the balance of play, the victory looked to be a fair one, with Al Khor creating chances from the offset.
Wagner’s first major effort came in the opening stages when he saw his close-range shot being denied by Basel Zaidan in the opposition goal.
The away side, however, was unfortunate not to take the lead when Yannick Sagbo’s audacious long-range free-kick was brilliantly tipped to safety by Mohammed Al Bakri.
Midway through the second half, Al Khor grabbed the lead when Wagner reacted quickest to a flick-on from Naif Al Buraiki and was able to tap the ball in with his outstretched left foot at the far post.
The relief on the Al Khor faces at the final whistle demonstrated the significance of this result and they will look to take this positivity into their next fixture.