Al Markhiya beat Qatar SC 4-0, Al Sailiya win

Al Markhiya registered a convincing 4-0 win over Qatar SC in the QNB Stars League at the at Suheim Bin Hamad Stadium
yesterday.
Aymen Hussein (24th minute penalty), Ayoub Assal (76th minute), Ali Nasser al-Marri (85th minute) and Abdelghani Laallam (90+3) scored the goals as Al Markhiya raised their tally to 12 points with their third victory.
High-flying Qatar SC remained on 19 points after suffering their fourth defeat.
Qatar SC were coming off three consecutive victories after the long break, against Al Gharafa, Umm Salal and Al Arabi. Qatar SC were reduced to 10 men after Javier Pastore was sent off in the 80th minute.
Al Markhiya were deserving winners, having played a good match and were easily the best, especially on the offensive front.
Qatar SC suffered greatly due to the absence of influential Iraqi midfielder Bashar Resan due to the red card he received in their previous match against Al Arabi. The Kings thus lacked offensive solutions and the ability to penetrate into the rival penalty area.
From the beginning, Al Markhiya succeeded in taking advantage of the opponents’ weaknesses and pressed hard. The Oryxes understandably took the lead halfway through the first half through Iraqi ace Aymen, who converted from the penalty spot.
At the other end, Qatar SC failed to repeat their good form and also to make inroads into the rival territory. Al Markhiya continued from where they left off in the second half and succeeded in adding three more goals, with Assal, al-Marri and Laallam finding the target.
Later in the day, Al Sailiya scored a resounding 5-0 win over Al Shamal. The star of Al Sailiya’s win was Mehrdad Mohammadi Keshrazi who scored a hat-trick (76th minute (P), 80th minute, and 90+1 minute) while Carlos Strandberg (45+1 minute) and Mohamed Muddather (60th minute) scored a goal each.
Registering their second win of the league, Al Sailiya showed superb coordination and finishing skills. While it took The Peregrines a little while to get their first goal on board, they ran roughshod over their rivals in the second half.
The breakthrough was provided by Al Sailiya’s Swedish striker Carlos Strandberg in the added time of the opening half. Put through with a fine ball from the left by Ahmed Al Minhali, Strandberg made big strides to get to it and went on to beat an onrushing goalkeeper Babacar Seck, scoring from an acute angle and just past the left post.
Sudanese forward Muddather soon doubled the lead in the second half with a solid strike from well outside the box as the kick beat the diving goalkeeper to his right. Al Shamal then tried to counter attack but many of their attempts in front of the goal couldn’t materialize. Their corner kicks were well directed but the players couldn’t find a proper connection to trouble the rival defence and goalkeeper.
Later when Strandberg provided a golden ball inside the ‘D’, Al Shamal’s Landre Loick held on to Ismail Khafi who appealed and the referee had no hesitation in signalling to the spot.
Mehrdad stepped up to score the penalty and his first goal. His second followed off a great cross from Strandberg from the left as Mehrdad ran in into the box and scored, beating the goalkeeper.
His third and hat-trick goal was a fine solo effort as Mehrdad broke past the defenders, kept the ball in control off a rebound from a defender’s feet and charged in to strike from the right. Al Sailiya’s win takes them a spot up in the standings to 11th with 7 points from 12 matches while Al Shamal are 10th with 10 points from 10 games.