Al Duhail go three points clear as Al Sadd stay in hunt

Al Duhail beat Qatar SC 4-1 to regain their three-point lead at the top in the Qatar Stars League, while Al Sadd stayed in touch with their fierce rivals after Yusuf Abdurisag’s strike helped them squeeze past Al Shamal 1-0.
At the Abdullah Bin Khalifa Stadium, Homam al-Ameen (11th and 37th minutes) and Almoez Ali (90th and 90+3 minutes) each netted a brace as Al Duhail extended their points tally to 28 points, while Qatar SC, who got their consolation goal in six minutes of added time through Yousef Mohammed Ali, remained on 10 points.
Duhail continued from where they stopped before the month-long break with their impressive attacking play. They could have grabbed the opener within the fifth minute if not for Homam’s left-footed shot from 25 yards out going a bit higher than expected. The Qatari left-back, however, atoned for the earlier miss six minutes later as he took advantage of a quickly taken free-kick by Luis Alberto to put The Red Knights ahead.
Qatar SC’s Ben Malango had a great opportunity to restore parity in the 24th minute after Eisa Ahmed had put him through with a cross following a set piece situation, but his header from very close range went high and wide to the right.
While Qatar SC’s search for an equaliser went unyielding, Homam added his second of the night in the 37th minute, firing home a right-footed shot from the left side of the box after a well-timed overlap to locate a sublime pass from Alberto to ensure that the coach Christophe Galtier’s team went into the half-time break with a comfortable lead.
The Kings continued in their search to at least reduce the deficit in the second half and their prayers were almost answered in the 60th minute if not for Al Duhail goalkeeper Salah Zakaria’s quick thinking to save a goal-bound right-footed shot from Jassim al-Jalabi from the right side of the box.
Qatar SC seemed to have put one back in the 76th minute through Ben Malango who poked home a right-footed shot from the centre of the box, but the goal was, however, cancelled, after a lengthy VAR check, due to an offside decision on the Congolese striker.
Captain Almoez made it 3-0 for Al Duhail on the stroke of regulation time from an assist by Edmilson Junior before adding another two minutes later, shooting into an empty net following a diagonal pass by Homam that beat onrushing goalkeeper Motasem al-Bustami.
With Al Duhail seemingly heading home with four unreplied goals in their kitty, Qatar SC finally got their consolation goal, albeit late, as Almoez hit the bull’s eye in six minutes of added time to give Qatar SC some form of consolation.
Later, Al Sadd had Abdurisag to thank for after he scored in the 74th minute to beat a spirited Al Shamal at the Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium.
Al Shamal also managed to get the ball into the net off a header from Omar Mohammed in added time of the first half, but the goal was disallowed as Baghdad Bounedjah had pushed Al Sadd’s Moustafa Tarek Mashal resulting in a foul.
The win saw Al Sadd stay as second in the standings with 25 points, ahead of Al Ahli on goal difference, while Al Shamal slid a rung down to sixth with 16 points.