Al Ahli were only able to manage a draw against league strugglers and local rivals Al Sailiya after Friday’s 16.00 Qatar Stars League match finished 3-3 at the Hamad Bin Khalifeh Stadium.
 
Al Ahli, who are still looking for their first win under new Head Coach Yusef Adam, got off to a dream start when Al Sailiya’s defense was caught sleeping and number 23, Gnuessan Yessoh, found himself in acres of space in the six yard box and able to easily head home from a driving cross to give The Brigadiers an early lead.
 
Al Sailiya settled after their early lapse in concentration and set about looking for an equaliser. Their pressure paid off and on the 13^th minute they were gifted a penalty after Al Ahli’s Ghanaian defender, John Benson, was deemed to have handballed in the box as he tried to defend a looping corner. The referee was quick to blow for a penalty and Al Sailiya’s Paul Alo’o steeped up and coolly converted from the spot to make it 1-1.
 


Al Sailiya looked the more determined for the remainder of the first half and stretched Al Ahli’s back four with some decent counter attacking play and Paul Alo’o, Mohammed Mudather and on-loan midfielder, Sayaf Al Korbi, all came close and drew some fine saves from Al Ahli’s goalkeeper. Al Sailiya, however, weren’t able to find the net and the teams went into halftime 1-1.
 
Al Ahli came out looking more determined in the second half and piled on the pressure from the whistle. On the 54^th minute, Al Ahli’s Congolese forward Ndombe Mubele stabbed home from just a yard out after Al Sailiya’s goalkeeper failed to hold onto a shot. Then just ten minutes later, Al Ahli made it three after being awarded a penalty for another handball in the box after Muostafa Mohamed deflected a cross with his arm. Al Ahli’s captain, Meshaal, stepped up and converted the penalty to take his individual goal tally to six this season and put The Brigadiers 3-1 up.
 
Al Sailiya continued to look for openings and a way back into the fixture though and on the 73^rd minute, Mudather made an excellent run to avoid the offside trap and expertly evaded the last defender with some fancy footwork, finishing with a low shot to make it 3-2. Then exactly ten minutes later Paul Alo’o bagged his second and made it 3-3. Al Ahli’s coach Yusef Adam is left waiting for his first win as both teams left with a point at the final whistle.
 
In the other 16:00 KO, Umm Salal and Lekhwiya went head-to-head in a pulsating five-goal encounter. The game finished 3-2 in favour of the Cops despite the best efforts of Yannick Sagbo and the rest of the Umm Salal team.
 
The first half ended with a flurry of goals with three hitting the back of the net in just five minutes. The first was scored by Lekhwiya in the forty-second minute as Yousef Al Arabi got his name on the scoresheet for the tenth time this season. Nam Tae Hee’s free kick was cleared only as far as Lekhwiya’s Chico Flores, who headed the ball into the path of Al Arabi, who scored from close range.
 
Just a minute later, Umm Salal’s Ivorian star, Yannick Sagbo, levelled the score after a wonderful assist by Hassan Diab. Diab found his way into the box by flicking it over two defenders, dribbled his way into the six-yard box and then cut it back to an unmarked Sagbo who guided the ball in to level the score.
 


The best goal of the game came right on the stroke of half-time in the 47^th minute. Nam Tae Hee’s brilliant solo run confounded the Umm Salal backline as he scored a Messi-esque goal. The Korean Maestro twisted and turned his way into the goal going past several opposition players to give his side the lead at the end of the first half.
 
In the 61^st minute, Umm Salal were rewarded with a penalty after Umm Salal’s Ismail Mahmoud was fouled by Lekhwiya’s Ismaeel Mohammed. Sagbo stepped up for the spot-kick and scored his second goal of the game sending the keeper the wrong way and slotting the ball into the bottom right corner.
 
Djamel Belmadi’s men kept up the pressure on Umm Salal and were rewarded for their efforts in the eighty-first minute with a goal from their Captain. Karim Boudiaf scored after getting on the end of an inch-perfect cross from Ismaeel Mohammed from the right. The goal from Boudiaf turned out to be the last goal of the game as the Cops overcame the Orange Fortress after a gruelling encounter and go top of the league. Jaish play Kharaitiyat this evening to decide who will sit atop of the league after round 8.