Lekhiwya dropped points in their quest for their fifth QSL falcon shield on Wednesday evening sharing the points with Al Khor in a 2-2 draw. 
 

Al Khor got off to the unluckiest of starts, gifting Lekhwiya the lead after just 11 minutes through an own goal. South Korean international Nam Tae-hee made a darting run towards the 18 yards box before passing to Ali Afif who whipped a dangerous cross into Al Khor’s six yard box from the right wing. Seeing that Lekhwiya’s Youssef El-Arabi was approaching the back post, Al Khor’s number 23, Welinton Souza , attempted a sliding clearance but instead stabbed the ball into the back of his own net to hand Lekhwiya an easy 1-0 lead.

Al Khor stepped up the pace in the search for an equaliser which they nearly got after 30 minutes of play after Brazilian import, Madison, drew a fine fingertip save from Lekhwiya’s goalkeeper, Amine Lecomte. After picking up the ball 35 yards out, Madison ran at Lekhwiya’s Chico Flores before unleashing a low, hard shot which left Lecomte at full stretch to his right to tip it past the post.

Al Khor continued with the pressure though and just minutes later got the equaliser they had been looking for. Madison struck a beautiful cross from a free kick 35 yards out which found the head of Al Khor’s big number 5, Sultan Al Enezi, who managed to get in front of Chico Flores and head home to make it 1-1.

Moaaz Ali Abdalla should have given Lekhwiya a 2-1 lead going into the break after a fine cross found him with acres of space in the six yard box. Despite a huge leap to meet the ball with his head, the man in red missed the ball and it went out for a goal kick. 1-1 at the half-time whistle.

Lekhwiya managed to find the net first in the second half, taking the lead again on the 57^th minute thanks to a close range goal from Qatari international, Ali Afif. Youssef El-Arabi managed to set Afif up with a clever chest controlled lay off after a looping cross drifted into the six yard box. Afif hit it first time and left Baba Djibril with no chance.

Both teams continued to create chances, with Lecomte pulling off a fine reflex save to deny a Mouhssine Iajour’s freekick from 25 yards out, and Lekhwiya’s number 19, Moaaz Ali again finding himself with space in Al Khor's six yard box but again failing to test the goalkeeper with his headed effort.

Al Khor secured a well-deserved point on the 73^rd minute when the referee deemed Lecomte had brought down number 91, Ali Abdulkarem, in the box. Maddison stepped up and converted the penalty to make it 2-2 with a super cool finish, stuttering his run and sending Lecomte the wrong way.



El Jaish hit Al Sailiya for six. 

El Jaish went back to the top of the Qatar Stars League table after beating second from bottom Al Sailiya in a ten goal thriller at the Hamad Bin Khalifa Stadium which finished 6-to The Soldiers.    

The game started at an intense pace and with just ten minutes gone, both teams had found the back of the net thanks to some sloppy goalkeeping. El Jaish took the lead after just five minutes thanks to a goal from striker Sardor Rashidov. Jaish’s lead didn’t last long though as the league strugglers Al Sailiya made it 1-1 thanks to a goal from Paul Efoulou on the ten minute mark.      

After Al Sailiya drew level, Jaish moved up a gear and took control of the game, scoring two goals in quick succession. Abdulkader Elyas found the net on the 20th minute and Jaish’s Brazilian goal machine, Romarinho, made it 3-1 after 22 minutes.  

Romarinho, who was hot off the heels of a hat-trick last weekend, then made it 4-1 with 37 minutes gone and took his tally to five goals in the last two games and eight goals this QSL campaign. The Brazilian, who is now the league’s leading goal scorer, struck a beautiful free kick over Al Sailiya’s wall from 25 yards out which left the goalkeeper with no chance as it smashed into the top right corner of the goal.  

The first-half goals kept on coming for El Jaish and just before the halftime whistle, their new captain, Seydou Keita, struck The Soldiers’ fifth of the game after some beautiful build up play on the edge of the box created space for him to drill a shot from 20 yards out and take what most would think would be an unassailable lead into the second half.



Al Sailiya’s second-half fightback started with goals on 46th and 53rd minutes when Sayaf Al-Korbi hit the woodwork and Mohammed Mudather headed home from the rebound and Abdelraouf Hussein netted to make it 5-3 just two minutes later.

A penalty from Al Sailiya’s Paul Efoulou on the 65th minute then made it 5-4 and let Al Sailiya dream of a fairy-tale comeback. That wasn’t to be though unfortunately as Rashidov took the goal tally into double figures on the 77th minute and seal all three points for El Jaish after running half the length of the pitch and finishing from 18 yards out.