It seems that someone has pulled the handbrake at Al Sadd as they ended up losing 2-1to Qatar SC tonight in their round 22 Qatar Stars League encounter.

Sadd have now gone three matches in the QSL without a win –two draws and a high profile loss to Lekhwiya. They were leading the table before that loss and now they are seven points adrift and despite Lekhwiya themselves enduring a draw, Sadd have been unable to catch up and it looks like the title challenge is already over.

The busy schedule of the Qatar Stars League coupled with their Asian Champions League campaign seems to have had a detrimental effect on Al Sadd.

Qatar SC who is enjoying a stirring transformation under the guidance of head coach Radhi Shenaishil notched up their third win in a row. This victory also sees them further cement their third place in the table.

Shenaishil will have his star striker Hamdi Harbaoui to thank as the Tunisian scored single handily demolished the Wolves in just three minutes to give his team a great advantage.

Harbaoui scored in the 26^th and the 29^th minute to give his team a two-goal cushion. Sadd managed to claw one back just before the end of the first half, in the 47^th, through wingback Abdulkarim Hassan but that was the last time that Sadd found the back of the net.

The second half saw Sadd pile on the pressure but despite many chances they just couldn’t score. And the statistics would only make Sadd feel worse. The Wolves had 66 per cent of the possession. They had 766 passes, as compared to just 360 by Qatar SC. Most importantly, Sadd had a whopping 21 attempts on goal, eight of which were on target but still they ended up as the losing side. Qatar SC had just eight shots at goal with four of them on target and their clinical finishing paid off in an important fixture for the kings.

Sadd need to go back to the drawing board after having created so many chances, their wastefulness proved very costly. The QSL title seems to be slipping away from them as their form takes a turn for the worse.

Qatar SC, on the other hand, will be buoyant after this performance and will know that they can now be a bit surer about their place in the top 4 as they sit just 5 points behind Al Sadd.