Gharafa fight back to draw with Sadd

Leaders Al Sadd and contenders Al Gharafa shared a thrilling 2-2 draw in the Expo Stars League at the Thani Bin Jassim Stadium yesterday.
Sadd went ahead at the stroke of half time after an own goal from Seydou Sano and added a second in the 80th minute through Yusuf Abdurisag. Al Gharafa’s equaliser had come from Ferjani Sassi in the 71st minute, before Boualem Khokhi found his own net in the 82nd minute.
The result saw Al Sadd’s tally go up by a point to 36 at the top of the standings while Al Gharafa slipped to third on goal difference after going level on 31 points with Al Rayyan, who beat Al Wakrah 3-0 yesterday.
In what was a keen battle and much as expected, Sadd looked to attack from the word go but were kept in check by The Cheetahs. In the ninth minute, winger Akram Afif made a swift move from the left and unleashed a kick at the goal but Al Gharafa custodian Khalifa Ababacar was alert and dived to make a good save but the ball rebounded in the front and Gonzalo Plata made an attempt again but Ababacar was back at the task foiling the chance.
Both sides continued to battle hard but a breakthrough was not in sight for long before Afif initiated a move sending a through pass to Gonzalo Jiminez,who sent in a fine cross for a sliding Bounedjah to make a connect but Al Gharafa’s Sano also sliding alongside had his boot reach the ball first to net it into his own goal (1-0).
In the second session, The Cheetahs worked towards getting the equalizer as Al Sadd sandbagged in defence. In the 67th minute, Ahmed Alaaeldin made a good header but it was staved off by Al Sadd goalkeeper Saad al-Sheeb.
It, however, didn’t take long for Al Gharafa to hit back minutes later as a Yacine Brahimi corner kick was superbly headed in by Sassi (1-1).
The third goal of the match and Al Sadd’s second came after a mid-field tussle with substitutes Ali Asadalla and Abdurisag combining superbly. Abdurisag won the ball and passed it to Asadalla to his right before making an overlap as Asadalla beat defenders to then provide Abdurisag with an assist to score from the left foot.
The setback saw Al Gharafa pick up pace as they tried to make forays. Their efforts bore fruits as eleven minutes later Brahimi moved from the left sending the ball to Homam al-Amin who made a fine centre even as six Al Sadd players ringed inside the ‘D’ and a frantic Khokhi shadowing Alaeeldin kicked the ball into his own goal (2-2). The remaining time saw both teams push harder but couldn’t succeed even as the fans cheered aloud enjoying the great club rivalry.
In an earlier match, Al Arabi survived a late rally from Qatar SC to secure a 4-3 win at the Suhaim Bin Hamad Stadium. Arabi’s Omar al-Somah scored a hat-trick (20th, 55th and 90+13 minute penalty), while Rafinha Alcantra also scored from the spot in the 50th minute for The Dream Team. Qatar SC’s goals were scored by Yohan Boli (76th and 86th minutes) and Bruno Tabata (90+5 minute) penalty.
The result takes Al Arabi to fifth above defending champions Al Duhail with 21 points, while Qatar SC remained 10th on 13 points.