Al Duhail continued their unbeaten run with a testing 1-0 victory against bottom side Al Shahania in Week 5 of the 2019-20 QNB Stars League at the Al Arabi Stadium on Saturday.

Captain Karim Boudiaf got the only game of the night in the 23rd minute.

Al Duhail have 11 points and Al Shahania have yet to collect any.

The game was scrappy throughout despite a promising start to the evening’s proceedings. Ahmed Yasser had a good early chance with a header inside the box, but he failed to trouble the keeper once he had found his position.

Shortly after, Al Shahania nearly took a surprise lead when the ball fell perfectly for Ramin Rezaien on the edge of six-yard box. However, he failed to hit the target with a free hit on goal.

The end-to-end action continued with Al Duhail’s Mohammed Muntari outjumping his marker with a long distance header which he saw loop marginally over the bar. 

The deadlock was finally broken midway through the half, thanks to the trickery and awareness of Almoez Ali. His jinking run into the box from the left saw him skip through three players before cleverly laying off to Karim for the easiest of tap-ins from close range.

Into the second period and it was very much about Al Duhail searching to double their lead with Al Shahania unable to put enough pressure on their opponents.

Muntari created a chance out of nothing when he teed up the ball and struck a ferocious volley just wide, while Almoez should have finished off the game at the death when clean through, but his intricate finish went wide.

The woes continued for Al Shahania who once again failed to get on the scoresheet, but equally concerning is their lack of opportunities created in open play.

Al Duhail, meanwhile, will be encouraged by another victory which keeps them in contention at the top.