Al Wakrah snatched a draw from the jaws of defeat when they scored in the 92nd minute and denied Al Shamal their first win this season.

Wakrah were involved in two of the biggest results in the previous two rounds – the first being the 6-1 thrashing of Al Gharafa and then the surprise 2-1 win over El Jaish. These string of results meant that all eyes were on the Waves to see what they would come up with in their match today.

Al Shamal, on the other hand, were still searching for their first win this season. They have had three consecutive draws before this result and were keen to break the trend.

And Shamal were the team that burst out of their blocks when they scored in the 23rd minute through Ali Mijbel to take the lead.  Wakrah tried to build attacks and penetrate the opposition’s defence but Shamal defended resolutely.

The first half ended with Shamal in the lead and it seemed that the bottom placed team would finally get their first win of the season.

The second half commenced and it was a similar script with Wakrah on the attack and Shamal doing their best to defend their one goal lead.  And that strategy almost paid off. But in the dying minutes of injury time, Waheed Mohamed Tahiri scored the equaliser to break the hearts of Al Shamal.

It was a keenly contested game, which saw six yellow cards being handed out – four to Shamal and two to Gharafa. This draw means that Shamal have now gone 15 games without a win and now there will be serious doubts raised about whether they will be able to stay afloat in Qatar’s top division.

Al Wakrah will be happy that they have been able to eke out a draw against a stubborn Shamal side who almost secured their first win. 

The Blue Waves are currently just two places off the relegation zone in 11^th spot with 14 points.

Shamal coach Silvio Diliberto had said during the press match press conference, “We need an extra boost from certain players. We have had some consistency but we haven't been able to convert that into wins sadly.” And ‘sadly’ for him the unwanted trend continues to plague his side.