Antonio Mance scored a thrilling hat-trick as Umm Salal beat Al Gharafa 5-0 in their third-round Group B match of QSL Cup at the Abdullah Bin Khalifa Stadium on Saturday.
The Croatian forward struck in the 81st, 83rd and 90+2 minutes, while substitute Abdullah Khaled (45+1 minute) and Kenji Gorre (90th minute) scored the other goals for Umm Salal, who were clearly on fire, especially in the second half. The rampaging win took The Orange Fortress’ tally of points to six from three games, while Gharafa, who suffered a second successive defeat, are yet to open their account.
Umm Salal opened scoring in the added time of opening half when Kenji Gorre broke in from the left at a fast pace to provide a cross to Khaled, who kept two defenders at bay in front of the goal, to strike.
Al Gharafa went close for an equaliser in the 73rd minute but substitute Wajdi Khechrida’s shot failed to generate power.
In contrast, Umm Salal were on ever-alert mode as they kept winning the ball more often than not. And in the 81st minute they however made charge on a counter and Oussama Tannane ran through the midfield putting a through ball for Mance to go down the right and fire in a telling kick.
Umm Salal struck again within minutes as Tannane and Mance combined brilliantly making a break in but when Tannane could find the space he moved the ball back to Mance to score again.
Gorre struck the fourth goals as he collected a Tannane assist, ran down in from the left, and used his left foot to flick the ball over an advanced Ababacar’s head. There was still more to come as Mance completed his hat-trick providing more finishing touches to his team’s superb win with a cracking kick from far left of the box into the right corner of the net (5-0).
Meanwhile, Al Shamal and Al Khor played out an exciting 1-1 draw in another Group B match at the Thani Bin Jassim Stadium. Al Khor’s goal came in the 71st minute through Ibrahim Nasser Kalla, while Under-21 player Ahmed Hagana restored parity for Al Shamal in the 86th minute. Al Khor thus secured their first point of the campaign, while Al Shamal extended their points tally to four.