Al Shahania has been relegated from the Qatar Stars League after they lost 2-0 to Al Ahli at the Grand Hamad stadium tonight. Al Shahania needed to win this match and hope that Al Wakrah would lose their match against Al Gharafa but neither of the scenarios played out to their advantage. Wakrah too managed to defeat Gharafa 2-1 and claim the last safe spot in the standings.

Shahania were given a lifeline in their quest to remain in the QSL after Wakrah ended up losing two of their previous matches, this gave the Oryxes hope as they went into their last match of the season.

Al Ahli had also lost their previous two games prior to tonight’s game, but have generally done well under their new coach Zlatko Krajncar.

Right from the start Al Ahli were dominating proceedings but though they couldn’t put the ball in the back of the net in the first half, their lack of finishing in the final thirds was proving frustrating to the fans and coach.

In the second half too, Shahania simply couldn’t get enough of the ball to launch even a single decent counter attack.  Inevitably, the goal came in the 55th minute when Alain Dioko scored through a penalty. With that strike Dioko ended up with a tally of 25 goals which will help him win the Golden Boot award for the second season running.

Last term, Dioko had won the Mansour Muftah award with 22 goals. The star striker has managed to surpass his previous best goals scoring tally and was only one shy of equaling the all-time QSL record held by Clemerson.

As for Shahania, this goal seemed to take the wind out of their sails and whatever hope they had seemed to be fading fast. Ahli skipper Meshal Abdullah then scored in the 68th minute to snuff out the possibility of a fightback from the Oryxes.

Ahli had 20 attempts on goal with eight of them on target while Shahania could only manage 12 with just one on target. Shahania will now have to play their next season in the Qatar Gas League and hope that they can produce a quick return to the QSL.

Tonight Shahania needed to up the ante but couldn’t and they will be left ruing missed opportunities to win. This season they have too often been in the lead but conceded late on and dropped vital points, a characteristic they will surely try to get rid of.

Ahli meanwhile have climbed to fifth in the standings and will be looking to mount a strong challenge in the Emir Cup.