Al Shahania had a tough task on their hands when they went to face last season’s champions Lekhwiya at the Thani bin Jassim stadium.

The Oryxes had just brought in new head coach Luka Bonacic to oversee some kind of rebirth of the team, instead the Croat saw how big a challenge he has taken on.

The gulf in class was clearly visible and Lekhwiya were quick to exploit the situation.

The first goal came when Msakni was set up by Nam Tae-Hee on the 22^nd minute, from then on the flood gates opened as Lekhwiya attacked at will and punished a young and inexperienced Shahania side.

Then on the 37^th minute Khalid Muftah got his first of the night when he chased down what looked like a lost cause. The Qatari got a lucky deflection as the Shahania defender went to clear the ball, instead however the ball bounced off Muftah to give the reds a two goal cushion.

Soria made it 3-0 before the break with a splendid burst of pace that saw him round the keeper before slotting home comfortably.

Al Shahania went into the break knowing that they would have to tighten up their midfield and defensive lines.

But in the second half the visitors continued to struggle as Lekhwiya went up a gear.

Just five minutes into the second half, the Slovak Vladimir Weiss got his second goal of the season when he scored the best goal of the night. He went on a powerful solo run through the middle and his pace was clearly too much for the boys in blue as he calmly placed the ball into the net.

Then in the final ten minutes Al Shahania finally managed to have a small period of possession but this was largely due to Lekhwiya’s Mohammed Musa going off for some treatment.

Then when it looked like things couldn’t get any worse for the Oryxes, Lekhwiya playmaker Msakni took a quick free kick that left-back Muftah latched onto. The defender charged into the box and finished off with a placed shot into the bottom right corner for the fifth goal of the night (91’).

The result puts Lekhwiya back on top of the Qatar Stars League but that could change as Al Sadd will face Gharafa later in the evening. For Shahania, the result sees them stay second from last in 13^th spot with 5 points.