Al Kharaitiyat defeated Al Rayyan 4-1 in Round 1 (Group B) of the 2020-21 season Ooredoo Cup at the Al Gharafa Stadium on Friday.

Mohammed Osman (20th minute), substitute Abdulrahman Mohammed (74th minute) and Rashid Tiberkanine (86th and 90th minutes) scored for Al Kharaitiyat.

Ali Ferydoon gave Al Rayyan’s lone reply in the 32nd minute.

The tournament opener featured two teams with varying strengths. Al Rayyan had finished runners-up in the recently-concluded 2019-20 season QNB Stars League just one point behind Al Duhail, while Al Kharaitiyat got back to the top flight after a gap of one season by emerging as the Second Division champions.

But it was Al Kharaitiyat who had the last laugh against an Al Rayyan side, comprising mostly Under-23 players.

After the scores were level (1-1) at half-time, Al Kharaitiyat upped their ante on resumption of play and struck three more goals.

Tiberkanine was the spearhead and Evans Mensah was the livewire of Al Kharaitiyat, who had more of the ball too (58 per cent).

On the other hand, Al Rayyan lost the plot in the second session after putting up a good fight in the first.

Osman opened the scoring with an easy finish after he pierced through the rival defence and controlled well a chipped pass from Evans.

Ferydoon converted the penalty, awarded when Al Rayyan’s Mohammed Alaaeldin was fouled by Mahmoud Saad.

Abdulrahman made it 2-1 after he only had to apply the finishing touch to a through pass from Tiberkanine, who himself was on target off a cross from Abdulmajid Anad.

Tiberkanine rounded off the tally as he struck home a rebound from Al Rayyan defender Abdulla Al Marri who blocked Osman’s shot.

Al Gharafa, Umm Salal, Al Arabi and Al Ahli are the other teams in Group B.