Al Duhail and Al Rayyan played out an exciting 1-1 draw in Week 3 of the 2019-20 QNB Stars League at the Al Janoub Stadium on Sunday.

Ahmed Yasser took Al Duhail ahead in the 66th minute, a lead neutralised by new recruit Franck Kom for Al Rayyan in the 76th minute.

Al Duhail took their points tally to five and Al Rayyan three. Both teams thus maintained their unbeaten record.

Al Duhail had beaten Qatar SC 2-1 and drawn 1-1 with Al Arabi, while Al Rayyan had drawn 2-2 with Umm Salal and goalless with Al Gharafa.

Al Duhail’s Moroccan defender Mehdi Benatia made his return from an injury even as they missed Tunisian attacking midfielder Yousef Msakni.

Al Rayyan were without the services of injured striker Sebastian Soria.

Al Duhail were dominant in first-half play with 65 per cent possession (67 per cent in favour of Al Duhail at final whistle), but they could not convert the opportunities.

Al Duhail’s Paulo Edmilson, Ali Afif and Almoez Ali all made attempts at the rival goal. At the other end, Al Rayyan’s Abdelaziz Hazaa skied his shot over the bar.

Al Duhail kept attacking and Ahmed Yasser provided them with the lead in the 66th minute when he headed a free-kick by Ali Afif into the top right corner of the net, leaving goalkeeper Fahd Younis rooted at the goal.

A couple of minutes later, it looked Al Duhail would double their lead, but Fahd got his hand on to a left-footer by Almoez Ali, palming the ball to safety.

Not long after, Al Rayyan equalised, Cameroonian Kom banging home a rebound from distance off goalkeeper Amine Lecomte after he punched away a shot from Abdelaziz Hatem, who joined Al Rayyan from Al Gharafa this season.

Al Rayyan defender Mohammed Alaaeldin thwarted Ali Afif in stoppage time and Ahmed Yasser could not be spot-on with his header for a second time, off the resultant corner kick.

Al Rayyan had Rodrigo Tabata’s straight shot to the goalkeeper to show. Substitutions did not help the cause either as the deadlock remained.