Al Kharaitiyat has earned some breathing space after they defeated Al Wakrah 2-0 today at the Al Khor stadium.

With both the teams level on points before this match, it was a head to head battle to see who would lift themselves out of the danger zone. Both teams were coming off good results. Kharaitiyat having defeated Al Shahania 4-0 and Wakrah having held table toppers Al Sadd to a 2-2 draw.



The first half of the match saw both teams trying to find their rhythm. There were forays into each other’s box but neither team had a convincing attack on goal. The teams went into the break without having troubled the keepers.

But in the second half, Kharaitiyat upped the ante and started making more inroads into the Wakrah defence. Their persistence paid off as in the 54th minute Kharaitiyat’s Hassan Mahmoud gave his team the lead.

And then just six minutes later, when Wakrah were still recovering from having conceded the first goal, Mahmoud found the back of the net to double his team’s advantage.

With their backs against the wall, Wakrah tried to go on the offensive but they couldn’t threaten the Kharaitiyat defence. And to complicate matters for Wakrah, Johar Abdul Kaabi was shown a straight red card in the 72nd minute. That completely snuffed out the challenge and Kharaitiyat were able to hold on for a deserved victory.

This win sees Kharaitiyat get to 19 points and more importantly put some distance between themselves and the bottom three teams. 

Before this match, Kharaitiyat coach Amar Osim had said, “The team that will win the next game will have a big chance to be peaceful and quiet towards the end of the season. The team that will lose will stay troubled.”

Kharaitiyat can now breathe easy whilst Al Wakrah will now have to ensure they don’t slip any further down the table. They are currently in 12th spot and have a four-point cushion over Shahania in 13th place.