Ricardo Gomes struck a brace as Al Khor scored a much-needed yet impressive 3-0 win over Umm Salal in Week 19 of the 2024-2025 season Ooredoo Stars League at the Al Khor Stadium on Friday.

Gomes scored in the stoppage time of both the halves (45+2 minute and 90+1 minutes), while Sofiane Hanni scored one in the 59th minute.

It was Al Khor’s only second win of the league championship and it came after six games. Their last win was over Al Gharafa.

The result took Al Khor’s points tally into double figures (10) although they still remain in 12th place in the standings.

For Umm Salal, this was their 12th loss and they remain in 11th place in the rankings with 15 points.

Al Khor, who according to their coach Salam Shaker were pepped up psychologically prior to this match, showed superb intent right from the start and succeeded in finding their way to success.

Al Khor were aggressive, but were tied down for almost all of the opening half by Umm Salal.

Al Khor’s Cape Verdean forward Gomes was initially disappointed when an attempt of his went just wide of the right post and later a header also missed the target. But just ahead of the half-time whistle, Gomes produced a gem to provide his teammates the right motivation.

Having placed himself perfectly ahead of a shadowing defender, Gomes caught an Hanni corner kick to make the deflection superbly and the ball hit the top of the bar on the inside on the right before going in.

Al Khor returned more vigorous in the second session and soon found their second goal through a fine combine. Abdulaziz Hazaa lhasia cut across a lob from the left and Aitor Garcia Flores unleashed a volley strike which was staved away by a diving Umm Salal goalkeeper Ahmed Basher Ali, but the ball went to an alert Hanni on the left and his left-foot kick saw the ball take the inside of the crossbar on the left before going into the net.

There was more joy for Al Khor fans towards the end as Gomes made a flying header off a corner kick taken by Ahmad Hassan Al Mohannadi for the ball to diagonally find its way into the right corner.