Reigning champions Al Sadd got back to winning ways by defeating Al Sailiya 2-1 in Week 5 of the 2022-2023 season QNB Stars League at the Education City Stadium on Tuesday.

The win saw Al Sadd bounce back after a reversal in the fourth round and took their points tally to seven.

Andrew Ayew (17th minute) and Baghdad Bounedjah (65th minute) scored for Al Sadd, while Carlos Strandberg (45+1 minute) did the scoring for Al Sailiya, who were left to rue a missed spot kick as well.

The loss saw Al Sailiya stay on three points.

Al Sadd were rewarded for their efforts in the match, where they attacked heavily and also faced some serious challenges from Al Sailiya.

Bounedjah, captaining in the absence of Rodrigo Tabata, swung into action straightaway and provided Ayew with a beautiful pass on the right to rush in and beat only an onrushing goalkeeper to score the opening goal.

Bounedjah then continued to hover over the rivals’ goal area and had three heading attempts, but they all went straight to the goalkeeper.

Al Sailiya tried to open up space in between and in the 39th minute a good chance went abegging as Ahmad Yasser Sebaie kicked just wide of the goalkeeper and the post on the left.

They, however, did not have to wait for long for the equaliser as tall Swede Strandberg broke through (latching on to mis-head off Guilherme Torres) to storm into an empty net.

The goal left Al Sadd players shocked but, they were egged on by their Spanish coach Juan Manuel Lillo from the dugout.

The second half was also full of action.

Early on, Al Sailiya made a fine move with Giannis Fetfatzidis taking a shot, but an alert Al Sadd goalkeeper Ivanildo Rodrigues made a good save.

While Al Sailiya did have their chances, they could not finish.

The big reversal came when Al Sadd made a well-co-ordinated move and Bounedjah made a superb long kick to beat the goalie to his right.

The last 20 minutes saw more hits and misses and even a penalty being called off after a VAR check in the 70th minute.

A golden chance to save the match came Al Sailiya’s way in the 85th minute when they were awarded a penalty. It was taken by Fetfa, but a brilliant Rodrigues saved it. The goalkeeper punched out the ball while diving to his left.