Al Sailiya were held to a goalless draw against QNB Stars League bottom side Al Shahania in a tense battle in Week 8 at the Al Ahli Stadium on Friday.

Al Shahania had come into the game on the back of two positive results and they set up to continue this run against an Al Sailiya side who had disposed of Al Wakrah in the previous round.

The going was not easy in a very closely-contested match, with Al Shahania trying to press home an early advantage. Long-range efforts from Ali Ferydoun and Aldoukali Al Baoure were not too troublesome for Khalifa Ndiaye in the opposition goal, but it displayed a clear intent.

Al Sailiya attacked the other end with a couple of chances of their own, most notably from Karim Ansari whose quick footwork provided him with a shooting opportunity, but he was unable to find the target. Later in the first half, Karim was close to opening the scoring when Mohmad Rajeb whipped in a lovely cross from the left with the outside of his right boot, yet the outstretched leg of Karim was not able to make a strong enough connection to score.

The Peregrines missed a glorious triple chance when Mashaal Al-Shammari, Boussoufa Mbark and Mohmad Rajeb all hit the woodwork in the same frantic passage of play when they really should have done better.

Sensing an opening midway through the second half, Al Shahania’s Nigel de Jong whipped in a corner from the right and Ramin Rezaiein outleapt his marker. However, his powerful header did not find the target. 

Both teams had fantastic chances to snatch the points at the end, firstly Karim saw his goal-bound strike spectacularly cleared by Mostafa Jafri, before Fereydoun laid off the ball to Ramin at the other end of the field and he smashed the ball wide of the target.