Weiss on song as Gharafa hold Sadd
 
Al Sadd 1-1 Al Gharafa
 
Al Sadd and Al Gharafa played out an entertaining draw at Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium on Monday night.
 
The Wolves, fresh from a two-match winning run, broke the deadlock in the 16^th minute through Meshal Al Shammari. The Qatari striker struck the ball sweetly into the top corner from outside the box.
 
Gharafa quickly regrouped and equalized within four minutes thanks to a superb solo goal from Vladimir Weiss. The Slovakian winger collected the ball just past the halfway line, showed Iranian defender Morteza Pouraliganji a clean pair of heels and produced a neat side-footed finish from six yards out.
 
Soon after Sadd had a penalty appeal turned down before Gharafa goalkeeper Abdulaziz Ali showed strong reflexes to deny Hassan Al Haidos from point blank range. Sadd also went close just before half-time when Hamza Senhadji’s header hit the crossbar.
 
Sadd were forced to bring off goalkeeper Saad Al Sheeb at half-time after he sustained what looked like an elbow injury. And his replacement, Muhannad Naim, was quickly into the action when he parried Krisztian Nemeth’s shot and had to be quick to take the ball off the toes of Weiss, who was sliding in.


 
With Weiss pulling the strings in attack, Gharafa had the bulk of possession in the second half. The former Lekhwiya man smashed a shot over the bar after a neat one-two with Nemeth before producing a dangerous cross which the Hungarian striker failed to get on the end of.
 
Gharafa also went close in the 80^th minute. Nemeth got on the end of a direct free-kick but failed to direct his header past Naim, who did well to spread himself and block the ball from going over the line. Just before the final whistle Nemeth thought he had won the game for Gharafa, but his header was chalked off after he was adjudged to have fouled the defender marking him.
 
The result is more use to Sadd than Gharafa. Jesualdo Ferreira’s men remain in fourth spot and have the advantage of a four-point cushion over fifth-placed Umm Salal. Gharafa, on the other hand, remain nine points behind Sadd and look certain to finish the season in mid-table.