The Red Knights went into their round 22 Qatar Stars League clash against Umm Salal at the top of the table with 49 points. After Al Sadd was frustrated at the hands of Al Sailiya in round 21 (2-2), Lekhwiya knew that a win against Umm Salal tonight would give them some valuable breathing space going into the business end of the season.

The first goal of the match came from the home side - Lekhwiya when a lightening counter attack saw Ismael Mohammed break down the right and send a cross first time into the box. Sebastian Soria made it look easy as he applied the faintest of touches to make it 1-0 in the 13^th minute of the game.

Umm Salal stepped up their game and began to dominate last season’s champions but then a major turning point in the match occurred when El Sayed was sent off for another bookable offense.

However Umm Salal showed their quality as they continued to show signs of danger against Lekhwiya.

After the second half Salal continued where they had left off and despite the one man disadvantage the boys in white equalized.

A hopeful ball from the back was sprayed out to the right wing, Qatari international Khaled Muftah didn’t know that Salal winger Jeddo was on his tracks and intercepted the ball beautifully; one on one with the keeper the winger coolly slotted home the equalizer (56’).

The game was hanging in the balance and the next goal would certainly seal the win for either side.

Slowly but surely Lekhwiya started to dominate and a throw in found Vladimir Weiss on the left wing, the Slovak turned and ran across the front of goal before letting rip with a dipping shot which bounced awkwardly past keeper Baba Malik.

Lekhwiya really didn’t seem impressive but once again did just enough to get all three points after a real scare from the visitors.

The win puts Lekhwiya 7 points clear of Al Sadd with just four games to go in the Qatar Stars League.