Al Rayyan marched to a deserving 2-0 victory against Al Khor in Week 4 of the 2019-20 QNB Stars League at the Al Janoub Stadium on Saturday.

The Lions’ marksmen were Franck Kom (66th minute) and Abdelaziz Hatem (75th minute).

It was Al Rayyan’s first victory, after three successive draws, and they now have six points, while Al Khor remained on four points. 

A well-fought first half was largely dominated by Al Rayyan, with their superior attacking strengths on display. With neither side creating too much in the opening stages, it soon burst into life with Al Rayyan’s Yacine Brahimi nearly scoring as he collected a pass out wide and drove a fierce shot across the face of the goal which required a fine finger-tipped save from Rajab Hamza.

In spite of such dominance, it was Al Khor who nearly took a surprise lead when Ahmed Hammoudan broke free of the Al Rayyan defence, lunged into the box and was stopped by some fine goalkeeping by Fahad Baker when in on goal.

So often on the back foot, Al Khor started the second half in blistering fashion and were unfortunate to have a goal ruled out by VAR within minutes of the restart. After chasing a long ball over the top, Tiago Bezerra was able to beautifully lob the goalkeeper from six yards out. However, VAR adjudged the player to have handled the ball as he controlled it.

The deadlock was finally broken in the 66th minute from a set piece taken short as Mowafak Awad whipped in a low cross from the right which Kom met with the faintest of touches to steer in at the back post. The frustration following the goal boiled over leading to Wagner receiving his marching orders for a second bookable offence.

With a one-man advantage Al Rayyan turned up the pressure and quickly secured their second goal of the night. Advancing down the left, Brahimi played the ball short to Abdelaziz Hatem who hit a sumptuous 25-yard, left-footed shot which swerved from left to right and struck the back of the net past a helpless goalkeeper.

Al Rayyan held on to the lead with ease and closed out the victory for a vital three points.