Al Duhail bounce back in style to beat Khor
Al Duhail produced a stunning comeback, rallying from a twogoal deficit to beat Al Khor 3-2 in Week 10 of the 201920 QNB Stars League at the Al Khor Stadium yesterday.
Abdulla Moraisi (17th minute) and Ahmed Hammoudan (29th minute) put Al Khor ahead, but Al Duhail replied through Mohamed Muntari’s brace (43rd and 57th minutes) and Yousef Msakni (66th).
Any ideas of an easy win for the league leaders were quickly put to bed when Al Khor surprised them with an early goal on the counter-attack. Thiago Bezerra drifted past two markers down the right-hand side before laying off a perfect pass for Moraisi to excellently side-foot home from 10 yards out.
The lead was quickly doubled when Bezerra again chased down a long ball over the top before finding Hammoudan with a wellweighted pass across the box and the marksman calmly slotted past Amine Lecomte.
Hammoudan should have put his side three goals up, and finished the match, when he rounded the keeper shortly after, but Amine made a superb recovery to block the striker’s shot.
This proved to be a costly opportunity missed as Al Duhail were not to be denied for long and soon got on the scoresheet. Paulo Edmilson whipped in an out-swinging corner from the right and Muntari rose highest to power a header low into the corner of the goal to bring the scores level at the break.
Al Duhail were able to quickly get back on level terms when they were awarded a penalty for a handball early in the second half and Muntari stepped up to convert the spot kick.
The turnaround was completed in the 66th minute when Msakni was quickest to react to a ball in the box, skipped past his marker and fired a hard shot across the face of the goal and into the net to complete the scoring.
Earlier, Al Wakrah also came from behind to secure three points with a 2-1 victory against Al Ahli. Al Wakrah’s goals were scored by Ali Karami in the 52nd minute and Mohamed Benyettou in the 88th minute. Al Ahli had taken the lead in the 16th minute through Nabil El Zahr.
Al Ahli had started in a positive style, with an early dominance providing early rewards. Al-Zahr advanced inside the box, cut inside Mohamed al-Bayati before unleashing an unstoppable drive that flew straight past the goalkeeper.
Al Wakrah responded well and were carving out chances throughout the half that ought to have yielded an equaliser.
First, Khalid Mazeed, who was in good form, found Meshaal Abdulla with a wonderful through ball, but the forward screwed his shot marginally wide.
Next up was Benyettou whose trickery allowed him space to shoot in the area, but his welldirected shot was tipped wide of the post.
The goal did finally come early in the second half, moments after they had a penalty appeal turned down. Karami picked up the ball outside the penalty area and struck a shot across the face of the goal, evading Ivanildo Rodrigues in goal and finding the back of the net.