Al Arabi produced a gritty performance to beat Al Gharafa 2-1 in their Qatar Stars League match today and put an end to their seven-match winless run.

Arabi have had a tumultuous time of late. In their nine previous QSL encounters they have managed just one win, losing four times and being held to a draw by the same number. The morale of the team was low and they also had to adapt to the departure of their coach Dan Petrescu who was recently replaced by Jose Daniel Carreño. 

Gharafa too had huge problems of their own. In their previous five games they have conceded 15 goals, 10 of which came in the previous two matches. They were looking to plug their porous defence and conceding a goal in the very first minute of the game wasn’t the best way to start.

Al Arabi’s goal came through their star signing Seyed Ashkan Mohamed.

But to give Gharafa credit they did not hold back after conceding the goal and mounted a series of attacks. However, the first half ended with Arabi in the lead.

The second half started with Gharafa looking for the equaliser and Arabi were looking to extend their lead. But neither team were strong enough in the final one-third of the pitch.

And then in the 78th minute it was Gharafa who equalized through Lissandro Lopez. The goal gave Gharafa confidence and they were the team who looked more likely to find the winner.

But then they conceded a penalty in the 89th minute which Arabi’s Pablo Hernandez converted to give his team the victory and take off some of the pressure that the team was under.

Al Gharafa had 57 per cent of the possession and saw more of the ball in the midfield but couldn’t convert that into goals and ended up losing their third match in a row. 

But this win hasn’t caused too much damage to Gharafa who remain in sixth spot and will be hoping for a strong show in the second half of the season after the 2015 Asian Cup finishes.

Al Arabi, despite the win, are languishing in ninth place and will need to really pull up their socks if they are to book a berth in the top four come the end of the season.