Al Ahli striker Alain Dioko scored a hat trick to inspire his team to a 3-2 win over Al Wakrah at the Grand Hamad Stadium this evening. This hat trick also saw Dioko break his own goals record when he notched up his 23rd goal in the QSL this season.

It was a match where both teams needed points – Ahli to ensure that they kept themselves in contention for a top 4 finish and Wakrah to get themselves out of the dreaded relegation zone.

Ahli had managed two back to back draws before this, a 3-3 stalemate against Al Sadd and the most recent was one-all result against Kharaitiyat. They needed a win to ensure that they didn’t slip too far away from El Jaish in fourth with 38 points.

It didn’t look like encouraging for Ahli after the end of the first half when both teams returned to the changing rooms without a goal being scored. 

Things got livelier in the second half but the first goal came in the 56th minute when Dioko found the back of the net due to a bad defensive pas that the Congolese intercepted. 

Wakrah will be ruing their missed chance when Mohsine Moutaouali couldn’t score from the penalty spot in the 62^nd minute. If they had equalized then the outcome of the match may have been rather different. Instead it was Dioko capitalised once more when he scored his second of the night just a minute later.

Dioko hadn’t finished yet as he scored again in the 66th minute. The third goal was perhaps his best of the night as he controlled a ball of the top with consummate ease, turned and shot first time to catch the keeper and the defence off guard. 

It seemed like it was game over for the Waves but then they found a second wind and upped their game.

The Waves reduced the deficit through substitute Reza Jamil Nournia in the 72nd minute. All of a sudden Ahli looked particularly vulnerable but the rode the storm towards the end of the match. 

After that despite creating many chances, the blues could only score one more goal in the 95th minute when Moutaouali redeemed himself by converting from the penalty spot. 

Fred Dabanka who had conceded the penalty got a red card in the 94th minute but it was too little too late for Wakrah to take full advantage.

Wakrah had more attempts at goal (16 as compared to 12 for Ahli) but they could only manage six on target whereas Ahli had eight.

Ahli are four points adrift of Jaish in fourth whilst Wakrah remain in the relegation battle. They had been given a great chance to get themselves to safety when Al Shahania had lost earlier in the day 1-0 to Al Arabi.