Al Khor got the better of Al Gharafa 3-0 in Round 5, Group B of the 2024-2025 season QSL Cup at the Abdullah Bin Khalifa Stadium of Al Duhail club on Monday, November 11, 2024, and qualified for the quarterfinals.

The tight-fisted clash saw Al Khor score three goals in the final 11 minutes of the match to secure their place in the last eight of the tournament.

While Ahmed Al Mohannadi fetched a brace striking in the 89th and 90+5 minutes, Abdulrahman Rashed Juma scored the opening goal in the 83rd minute.

The much-needed win took Al Khor’s tally to four points (one win, a draw and two losses) while Al Gharafa with a solitary point (one draw and three losses) failed to make the grade. The other teams from the group to qualify for the quarterfinals are Al Wakrah (10 points), Umm Salal and Al Shamal (both six points each).

Both teams began the crucial contest on a cautious note. It was Al Gharafa who first looked to make a breakthrough, but their attempts were foiled in the 39th and 43rd minutes by an alert Al Khor defence, especially their goalkeeper Ali Nader Mahmoud.

Al Khor picked pace towards the latter part of the opening half and in added time an Al Mohannadi long-range strike rattled the crossbar.

Al Khor’s persistent efforts paid dividends late in the second half and the deadlock was broken when Juma fired a long-ranger that beat the opposition all ends up.

Five minutes later, Al Mohannadi, after receiving a good assist, was marked in a man-to-man situation, but executed a superb kick for the ball to curl under the crossbar and into the net.

Al Mohannadi returned to score a second time. After substitute Ibrahim Nasser Kalla’s kick at goal was pushed away by Al Gharafa custodian Claude Amine, the ball found a waiting Al Mohannadi and he struck gleefully to make it 3-0 in his team’s favour.