Striker Mohammed Muntari led the charge with two goals as Al Duhail got the better of Al Wakrah 4-2 in a pulsating Week 4 match of the 2019-20 QNB Stars League at the Al Sadd Stadium on Saturday.

Muntari scored in the 36th and 65th minutes. Ali Afif (24th minute) and Almoez Ali (90+1 penalty) were the other scorers for Al Duhail.

Mohamed Benyettou (third minute) and Ismail Mahmoud (49th minute) scored for Al Wakrah.

The victory helped Al Duhail get back to winning path after successive draws against Al Arabi and Al Rayyan (both 1-1 results). The Red Knights had beaten Qatar SC 2-1 in the first round. They took their points tally to eight and are back in strong contention for the title.

Al Wakrah thus crashed to their second defeat, having lost to Al Sadd 1-4 in Week 1. They had defeated Qatar SC and Al Shahania by an identical 2-0 margin.

The Blue Wave, however, had the credit of giving Al Duhail a hard run for their money before going down.

Al Duhail missed injured players Mohanad Ali, Yousef Msakni and Mohammed Moosa, while Paolo Edmilson could not play as he was sick.

When Benyettou headed in Ali Malollah’s cross as early as the third minute, it looked as though Al Duhail suffered a shock. But they regrouped well and equalised midway through the first half as Afif deflected in Almoez Ali’s shot after the ball rebounded from goalkeeper Saoud Al Khater following Ismail Mohammed’s volley.

The Al Wakrah defence fell flat again and, this time, Muntari was on target as he sent home a Luis Martin cross following Ismail Mohammed throw-in.

Al Wakrah continued to fight tooth and nail in the second half and equalised soon through Ismail who found the mark off a pass from Cristian Ceballos.

After goalkeeper Saoud had to leave the field with an injury and Hassan Idriss replaced him, Al Wakrah’s Ismail tested Al Duhail goalkeeper Amine Lecomte with a rising shot in the 64th minute.

Muntari was on target a second time the next minute.

Almoez Ali sealed the issue in stoppage time by converting a penalty, awarded after Ousmane Coulibaly fouled Almoez.