Draws were the name of the game as three matches out of seven ended in 1-1 stalemates in week 19 of the Qatar Stars League (QSL).
The 1-1 draws saw Al Shadd sharing points with Al Shahaniya, El Jaish with Al Sailiyah and Muaither with Al Arabi on Saturday.
 
In other draws in week 19, Umm Salal and Al Kharaitiyat failed to find the net in the 90 minutes while a similar result was witnessed when Al Gharafa played Al Wakra.
 
Intriguingly enough, former champions Lekhwiya powered to a 6-0 win over Al Khor while Al Rayyan hammered Al Ahli 5-1 in two high-scoring battles.
 
By the end of the 19th week, Lekhwiya lead the points table with a tally of 49, a notch ahead of Al Sadd who are in second spot with 44 points.
 
Al Rayyan, the defending champions, have 40 points while fourth-placed El Jaish - one of the most consistent sides in Qatar - have 36 points.
 
Al Gharafa, who have struggled off lately, are in 5th spot with 31 points. Al Ahli are in sixth spot with 23 points.
 
Umm Salal (7th spot, 22 points), Al Arabi (8th spot, 20 points), Al Sailiyah (9th spot, 20 points) and Al Khor (10th spot, 19 points) complete the top 10 sides in QSL after week 19.
 
Al Kharaitiyat (16 points), Al Shahaniya (16 points), Muaither 15
points) and Al Wakrah (13 points) occupy the next four berths on the standings.
 
In the first game of the week, Al Sadd shared spoils with Al Shahaniya. Baghdad Bounedjah (20) opened the scoring while Al Shahaniya's Mohanad Adnan Darjal (36) scored the equaliser.
 
With the draw, Al Sadd clearly dropped points in their effort to close gap on points leaders Lekhwiya.
 
In another 1-1 draw, Al Sailiyah snatched a point off El Jaish. Sanjar Shaakhmedov (23) scored the first goal for Al Sailiyah but El Jaish's Yasir Abubakar Isa (45) produced the much-needed equaliser in the first half.
 
On Friday, Lekhwiya hits Al Khor for a six, scoring just about at will in the round 19 clash played on home soil.
 
Yousef Alarabi scored a hat-trick (29, 59 and 66) while Nam Tai-hee
(39 and 80) added two to his overall tally in the current season.
Youssef Msakni scored one in the 73rd minute.
 
The same day Al Rayyan crushed Al Ahli 5-1. Abdulmajid Anad Diri (17), Myongin Koh (82), Sebastian Soria (75), Rodrigo Tabata (70) and Abdulrahman Mohammed Al-Harazi (88) scored for Al Rayyan.
 
Yasin Chikhaoui (31) scored Al Ahli's only goal of the game.
 
On Saturday, Umm Salal and Al Kharaitiyat failed to get on the scoreboard at Suhaim bin Hamad. Al Gharafa and Al Wakrah also endured a similar scorecard at Thani Bin Jassim Stadium.
 
In the last game of week 19, Muaither played brave football to share points with Al Wakrah. Minori Sato (17) opened the scoring for Muaither while Ahmad Saleh Al-Khalfan (44) found the net late in the first half for Al Wakrah.
 
Meanwhile, Moroccan striker Youssef El Arabi of Lekhwiya leads the scorer's charts with 20 goals. Baghdad Bounedjah of Al Sadd has 16 goals while Brazilian Rorinho (12 goals) are second and third respectively.