Al Kharaitiyat stun Al Gharafa

Relegation threatened Al Kharaitiyat stunned in-form Al Gharafa 2-0 in a pulsating QSL tie at Al Gharafa stadium. A goal in each half from Mehadi Al-Khamasi and Mohamed Abdulrahman gave the Thunders only their third win of the season. 

The home side started strongly and promptly took the lead from a  well taken snap-header from Mehadi Al-Khamasi. Kharaitiyat's Mahmoud Saad Abdelhalim curled in a beautiful cross from the left flank and as the ball dipped, Al-Khamasi jumped high in front of Al Gharafa's Fahid Sattam Al-Shammari and deflected the ball home with goalkeeper completely beaten by the angle of the header.

Three minutes later, Al Kharaitiyat got going with another attack on the goal as Lassina Diaby fired a bullet from the edge of the Al Gharafa box but his powerful shot was blocked by goalkeeper Hassan Ali. Kharaitiyat had the upper hand and continued to trouble Al Gharafa. Again, goalkeeper Ali who stopped a powerful shot by Diba w from close range keeping his side in the tie. 

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Trailing by a goal and under pressure from relentless attacks by Al Kharaitiyat, Al Gharafa coach Pedro Caixinha benched Moayad Hassan and brought out Mohamed Razaq at the half-hour mark.

Al Kharaitiyat raced to a 2-0 lead early in the second half, replicating their pristine start to the game 45 minutes earlier. Abdulrahman produced a crafty header and scored the second goal in the 50th minute much to the dismay of Al Gharafa faithful.

Al Gharafa later on attempted to snap out of their sluggish display but the 4th-placed side failed to get on the scoresheet on their home soil, falling to their forth defeat of the season. As for Al Kharaitiyat, they have pulled out of the relegation zone, and are in tenth place in the QSL standings with 12 points.