Al Duhail bounced back from being a goal down to beat Al Rayyan 4-3 in their postponed match from Week 15 of the 2022-2023 season QNB Stars League at the Al Duhail Stadium on Tuesday.

The much-needed win from a thrilling contest saw The Red Knights reclaim the leaders’ position in the rankings, having tallied a total of 45 points from 19 matches to be two points clear of Al Arabi.

Defending champions Al Sadd are third in the table with 38 points, while Al Rayyan are ninth with 17 points from 18 games.

Khaled Mohammed (37th minute), Ferjani Sassi (45+4 minute), Michael Olunga (76th minute penalty) and Almoez Ali (82nd minute) were the goal getters for Al Duhail, while Yohan Boli (25th minute) and Sofiane Boufal (80th minute and 90+4 minute) found the back of the net for Al Rayyan.

The strong meeting began with a flourish for Al Rayyan as an unmarked Boli bamboozled all with the opening goal made from an Osama Al Tairi cross from the right.

Till Boli struck, both teams had made a cautious start and kept their defence tight. The opening strike, however, opened up the match which eventually saw six more goals being scored.

It did not take long for Al Duhail to draw parity as their Tunisian star Ferjani Sassi picked the ball on an Al Rayyan defensive lapse to quickly turn it over to Khaled Mohammed to score.

Midfielder Sassi then himself was in the spotlight, just before half-time, as he positioned himself superbly to head a perfect cross captain Almoez past the outstretched hands of Al Rayyan goalkeeper Ivanildo Rodrigues (2-1).

Al Duhail’s third goal was produced after a long battle in the field in the second half with both teams pushing hard. It was through a penalty strike given by the referee after Al Rayyan’s Mohammed Juma brought down a charging Bassem Al Rawi inside the box.

Al Duhail’s Michael Olunga took the kick successfully for his 15th goal of the season in the league (3-1).

Al Rayyan hit back minutes later with their attacking winger Sofiane Boufal breaking in from the left all his own to go past defenders for a fine goal (3-2).

In a match-up, two minutes later, it was time for Al Duhail’s Almoez to show his class as he went through and overpowering defenders to beat a diving goalkeeper to his left (4-2). The racy goal sent the team’s fans into delight.

Al Rayyan were still fighting and, in injury time, Boufal combined superbly with Boli, who sent him back his pass inside to ‘D’ to register his second goal of the match (4-3).

The remaining three minutes of added time also saw frenetic action, with both sides having a few more close calls adding to the excitement for fans of both teams.

The clash was earlier postponed due to the teams’ participation in the Round of 16 of 2022 AFC Champions League.