Bottom-placed Al Kharaitiyat gave themselves a lifeline by blanking Umm Salal 3-0 in Week 19 of the 2020-21 season QNB Stars League at the Al Ahli Stadium on Thursday.

Rachid Tiberkanine (43rd-minute penalty and 45+2) scored a brace for Al Kharaitiyat. Nasser Al Nasr added a third goal for The Thunders in the 87th minute.

Al Kharaitiyat now have a tally of nine points, while Umm Salal stood on 15.

Ismail Mahmoud swivelled inside the Al Kharaitiyat box in the eighth minute and drilled a shot towards the goal. To his misfortune, the ball beat keeper Shehab Mamdouh, but hit a goalpost.

In a similar attacking move, Al Kharatiyat’s Mahmoud Saad curled in a left-footed drive from outside the box, but Umm Salal’s experienced keeper Baba Malick blocked it with a solid stop with his right hand in the 20th minute.

On the half hour-mark, Al Kharaitiyat’s Majid Salmeen got booked with a yellow for an elbow nudge on Moses Orkuma. Three minutes later, Al Kharatiyat’s captain Pejman Montazeri brought down Aymen Abdennour in his own box and the referee pointed to the spot kick.

Umm Salal’s Brazilian forward Kayke Rodrigues chose to drive the ball to the left of the keeper. The Al Kharaitiyat keeper also chose to dive to the left and stopped the penalty kick in the 35th minute.

A couple of minutes later, Mohammed Osman of Al Kharaitiyat curled in a shot from the edge of the box, but the Umm Salal goalkeeper was alert to the situation.

Tiberkanine then converted a penalty and added another in first-half injury time to give Al Kharaitiyat a two-goal cushion at half-time.

After 42 goalless minutes, Sayaf Al Korbi won a penalty after he was denied a goal-scoring opportunity by Umm Salal’s Ismail Dahqani inside the box. Tiberkanine dodged Malick with a strike on the right.

Al Kharaitiyat soon doubled the lead when Hamad Rajah fired a brilliant cross, with Rachid evading his marker to head the ball in from close range.

On the hour-mark, Rabeh Boussafi drilled a left-footed shot from outside box, but the ball bounced back off the crossbar. 

Towards the end, Al Nasr went long-range with his effort and found the net with a left-footed drive.