Al Arabi maintained their lead at the top despite being held to a 1-1 by draw Umm Salal, while Al Duhail had to rally from a goal down to rescue a point against Al Sailiya in the QNB Stars League on Tuesday.
At the Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium, Arabi went into lead in the 40th minute after Abdulaziz al-Ansari found the net, but Umm Salal equalised ten minutes into the second half through Joao Carlos Teixeira. Arabi have a two-point advantage over Duhail after their first draw of the season. Umm Salal, meanwhile, are ninth.
In other match yesterday, Al Gharafa came back from a goal down to beat Al Markhiya at the Abdullah Bin Nasser Bin Khalifa Stadium.
Driss Fettouhi had given Markhiya the lead in the 38th minute, but goals from Yacine Brahimi (56th minute) and Ishak Belfodil (63rd minute penalty) ensured three points for Gharafa, who climbed to fourth spot with their third win of the season. Markhiya are seventh with eight points.
In the day’s first match, at the Abdullah Bin Nasser Bin Khalifa Stadium, Duhail and Sailiya had to settle for a point each after a keen slugfest.
It was tall Swede Carlos Strandberg who put Al Sailiya ahead just after the first-half break (46th minute), while substitute Nasser al-Yazidi fetched the equaliser for Duhail in the 82nd minute.
The first half began on a sedate note for Duhail, coming off a 3-0 win against Qatar SC where their striker Michael Olunga had scored a hat-trick.
In this game though, Olunga, was pulled back a bit by a rough tackle from Sailiya’s Saeed Eisa in the 24th minute and also could not get much leeway to score though he did have attempts at the goal.
Sailiya tested the rival citadel in the 30th minute, but Strandberg’s header went straight to goalkeeper Shehab Ellethy. Three minutes later, Shehab made another super save and this time off Mehrdad Mohammadi’s header.
In the 35th minute, Duhail made a good move, but Olunga’s left-footer went wide to the right of the goal.
The second half began on a surprising note as a long kick from Sailiya’s end was headed by Abdulqadir Ilyas for a waiting Strandberg to latch on and beat a lone defender in Yousef Ayman Farahat and the Duhail goalkeeper for his side to go 1-0 up.
Duhail then made several attempts working on moves from either side of the box and were eventually rewarded, with al-Yazidi making a fantastic finish from the left after being assisted with a fine ball from Nam Tae-Hee.
The South Korean created another good chance in the 87th minute, but Luiz Martin Junior hit wide. The added time also saw some close moments for both the teams, but none could succeed in breaking the deadlock.