Al Duhail rallied in fine fashion to beat Al Kharaitiyat 4-1 in their QNB Stars League 10th-round clash on Thursday.

Al Kharaitiyat opened the scoring through Romanian midfielder Valentin Lazar in the 23rd minute. But thereafter, it was Al Duhail all the way as Bassam Al Rawi (32nd), Mohammed Moosa (60th) and Yousef El Arabi (77th and 85th) found the target for the defending champions.

Valentin was on target as he, after a couple of back-heal short passes, swivelled on his feet inside the Al Duhail box and shot the ball past goalkeeper Khalifa Ndiaye with a slick finish.

Just nine minutes later, Al Duhail equalised through Al Rawi off an indirect corner. Al Rawi, stationed close to the goal, latched on to a inadvertent loopy cross from El Arabi and flicked the ball into the net before goalkeeper Ahmed Sofyan could effect a stop.

Just before the end of first half, South Korean star Nam Tae-Hee curled in a well-taken shot from the edge of Al Kharaitiyat box, but the ball narrowly missed the far post with Sofyan completely beaten.

When the first half ended, Al Duhail enjoyed most of the ball possession, 67 per cent to 23 by Al Kharaitiyat. They also produced seven corners to just two by their rivals.

A few minutes into the second half and after Al Rawi received his marching orders following his foul on Valentin, Nam missed a golden opportunity to score from close range when his snap-header was palmed over the crossbar by Sofyan.

However, exactly at the hour mark, Al Duhail went 2-1 up as Moosa made the most of an error by Al Kharatiyat’s Abdarahman Abdallah who jumped high to head the ball away, but ended up allowing the former to flick the ball into the open net.

El Arabi then easily converted a penalty to give Al Duhail a 3-1 cushion. It was El Arabi’s eighth goal of the season. The Moroccan added another goal from close range.