Al Duhail made a telling comeback to the 2022-2023 season QNB Stars League, which had taken a long break, by beating Al Gharafa 3-0 in the opening match of Week 8 at the Al Duhail Stadium on Wednesday.

The Red Knights led 1-0 at half-time. The goal scorers were Ferjani Sassi (31st minute), Bassam Al Rawi (48th) and Nam Tae-Hee (90+4).

The valuable three points from the win saw Al Duhail move on to 17 points from eight matches.

Al Gharafa stood on 12 points.

In what was a resounding win for Al Duhail, they displayed fine form and were on an attacking spree in the second half and could have scored many more but for the efforts of Al Gharafa goalkeeper Yousef Hassan.

Al Gharafa, under new Portuguese coach Pedro Martins, began cautiously and held on well.

Al Duhail’s first success came through a corner kick taken by Khalid Mohammed. The ball flew into the danger area and an alert Ferjani Sassi moved clear and waited for the ball before heading it superbly into the net.

Post break, Al Duhail came back stronger and soon Bassam Al Rawi produced a brilliant set piece goal from almost 40 yards. His kick saw the ball race over a two-man wall and beyond the stretched hand of goalkeeper Hassan.

Up 2-0, Al Duhail continued to attack menacingly. In the 64th minute, Almoez Ali ran down the right flank and was in the clear, but shot wide.

In the 70th minute, Sassi shot from top of the box, but the curling kick was deflected by the goalkeeper.

The action was followed on as Al Duhail attacked again through Nam, but his left-footed kick was parried by Hassan.

In the 78th minute, Michael Olunga’s superb left-foot curling kick hit the top left corner of the goal post as Al Duhail were denied again.

Nam’s persistence paid off in added time when the South Korean picked on an assist from Sassi to break into the ‘D’ and beat a sliding defender and the goalkeeper.

For Al Gharafa, Yacine Brahimi was the lone bright star and produced some key moments including creating a chance for Ishak Belfodil in the 66th minute, but the latter hit straight to Al Duhail goalkeeper Salah Zakaria.