League strugglers Al Shahania and Al Khor took a point each after drawing 2-2 at Al ArabiStadium in one of Friday’s two early QSL kick offs. Both teams came into the tie desperately needing three points with Al Shahania becoming draw specialists after registering three ties in their last five QSL matches and Al Khor losing their last five games and heading towards the relegation.
After a lacklustre opening which saw not a single shot on goal, Al Khor took the lead after they were gifted a penalty following some poor defending from The Oryxes.
Sloppy passing between Al Shahania’s back four handed Al Khor’s Babou Sidiki the ball on the edge of the 18 yard box and allowed him to run at goal. Before Skid was able to get a shot away he was tripped by a backtracking Nabeel Anwa and the referee was quick to blow for a penalty. Al Khor’s Brazilian defender Welinton Souza, stepped up and sent the goalkeeper the wrong way to give The Knights a one goal lead.
Al Khor made it two just before the break after yet more defensive errors from Shahania. After a cross was whipped into the 18 yard box from the right wing, Al Khor’s number 14, Reza Shanbeh Najafi, found himself with acres of space at the back post and was able to find young striker Ali Abdulkarem, who was unmarked and able to help the ball across the line from a yard out to bag his first goal of the season.
Al Shahania came out after the break with a determined look about them and started pressing from the whistle. Their sustained pressure paid off on the 61st minute when on loan Qatari striker, Fahad Khalfan, hit a lightening free kick from 22 yards out that smashed into the top right hand corner of the goal.
Nine minutes later Al Shahania grabbed a well-deserved equaliser after Al Khor’s Captain, Mostafa Jafri, failed to deal with a long goal kick from Al Shahania’s Al-Dosari. Thinking his goalkeeper was coming out to take the ball, Jafri left it to bounce but failed to realise that Al Shahania’s number 10, Kaled Gourmi, was chasing him down. Khaled managed to poke the ball from between Jafri’s legs before his keeper could reach it and it trickled into the back of the net to make it 2-2.
Al Shahania maintained the pressure but were unable to find the winner and both teams left with a point. Al Khor continue their downward spiral towards relegation and Al Shahania maintain their title of draw specialists, making it four draws from six games.
Source: alkhor-club.com