Al Wakrah 2 Lekhwiya 0

Wakrah sink Lekhwiya on the break.

Al Wakrah took a major step to survival on Friday evening, defeating former QSL champions Lekhwiya 2-0. Goals at the end of each half from Mouhcine Moutouali & Mahir Yousef gave the Blue Waves the win, effectively guaranteeing their status in the QSL for another season.

Lekhwiya had an astounding 62% of possession in the tie, but were wasteful in front of goal spurning a host of chances.  

Wakrah  opened the scoring on the 37^th minute courtesy of Mouhcine Moutouali, A bulldozing run from the impressive Mahir Yousef pushed the Lekhwiya defense back. At the second time of asking Yousef slipped the ball to the Moroccan midfielder who calmly curled the ball past Lekhwiya keeper Ivanildo Rodrigues.



In the second half Lekhwiya came out with renewed vigor, and had two headed chances that should have found the back of the net. First from Spanish defender Chico Flores and the second from Striker Alain Dioko, whose flicked header frustratingly tricked out of play.

Lekhwiya continued to push and brought on midfielders Karim Boudiaf and Nam Tae Hee. It didn’t take them long to open Wakrah up, with an intricate passing move unfortunately Alain Dioko fluffed his lines at the vital moment.

Wakrah were without striker Sasha through injury, but had an able replacement from Mahir Yousef who put in a man of the match performance for his side. After being pinned back for the majority of the second half, Wakrah sprung on the break to deliver a second goal and guarantee all three points.

A fine jinxing run on the 84^th minute from Mouhcine Moutouali pulled in the Lekhwiya defense and a pass to unmarked Yousef who had all the time in the world to calmly slot the ball into the bottom right hand side of the goal. Giving Mauricio Larriera’s side the vital thee points. 

El Jaish 1  Qatar SC 1
 
All square as Kings grab vital point against El Jaish
 
2nd placed El Jaish took on relegation threatened Qatar Sports Club in a top versus bottom clash at the Lekhwiya stadium on Friday. The match ended all square courtesy of goals from Mohammed Al Rabiei for Qatar SC and Abderazzak Hamdallah for Jaish.
 
The first half was a cagey affair with both goalkeepers producing some fine saves to keep their teams in the game. Qatar SC had the majority of chances in the first half but El Jaish stopper Khalifa Abubakar, produced some vital blocks to keep his side in the tie.
 
In the final play of the first half the Kings took the lead as Mohammed Al Rabiei heading his side into the lead. Emiliano Vechio’s perfectly delivered corner kick found Rabei in a crowded box and the Qatari defender made no mistake as he headed the ball straight past Khalifa Abubakar.


 
Abderrazak Hamdallah equalized for El Jaish from a spot kick in the sixty eighth minute. The Moroccan calmly slotted home the penalty which brings his season tally to seventeen goals. The penalty came after Hamdallah was brought down in the box by Qatar SC’s defender and goal scorer, Mohammed Al Rabiei
 
Jassim Al Mullah got himself a red card for a rash challenge in the Qatar SC box in the eighty sixth minute.
 
The match ended in a 1-1 draw and this means Qatar SC are still in the drop zone level on points with twelfth place Al Kharaitiyat but behind on goal difference. El Jaish remain in second spot with forty-four points from twenty-four games.



Al Gharafa 2 Al Rayyan 1 

Cheetah's consign Rayyan to second staright defeat of the season. 

The final match on Friday saw QSL champions Al Rayyan take on Al Gharafa in a match between two of Qatar’s best attacking sides. Al Gharafa won the match by two goals to one after an exciting game.
 
After a goalless first half, Al Gharafa wasted no time in the second half as Krisztian Nemeth scored in the forty seventh minute. The speedy Adel Ahmed ran past several Al Rayyan players on the right flank and crossed the ball low and hard to Krisztian Nemeth who tapped it in from close range to give Gharafa the lead against the champions.
 
Moments later, in the fifty first minute Abdulaziz Hatem doubled Al Gharafa’s lead with his third goal of the season. The 26-year-old blasted the ball into the roof of the net.
 
Rodrigo Tabata came on fifty fourth minute to strengthen Al Rayyans attack. He scored in the sixty fifth minute after heading the ball into the goal from close range. The Qatari international with his twentieth goal of the season as he headed the ball on the bounce which was delivered into the box by Sergio Garcia.
 
Al Gharafa had to play with ten men in the last ten minutes because of a red card to Fahad al Shamari. However, Pedro Caixinha’s men held on and won the game. With this victory Al Gharafa are pushed into sixth place. This is Al Rayyans second straight loss and only their third defeat of the season