Doha: Al Markhiya shocked top-four side Qatar SC with a convincing 4-0 win in their QNB Stars League (QSL) Week 13 match yesterday.
Aymen Hussein (24th minute penalty), Ayoub Assal (76), Ali Nasser Al Marri (85) and Abdelghani Laallam (90+3) scored for the visitors who raised their tally to 12 points with their third victory of the season.
Qatar SC, currently placed fourth in the standings, remained on 19 points after suffering their fourth defeat.
Qatar SC were coming off three consecutive victories after the long break, against Al Gharafa, Umm Salal and Al Arabi.
Qatar SC were reduced to 10 men after Javier Pastore was sent off in the 80th minute.
Al Markhiya were deserving winners, having played a good match and were easily the best, especially on the offensive front.
Qatar SC suffered greatly due to the absence of influential Iraqi midfielder Bashar Resan due to the red card he received in their previous match against Al Arabi. The Kings thus lacked offensive solutions and the ability to penetrate into the rival penalty area.
From the beginning, Al Markhiya succeeded in taking advantage of the opponents’ weaknesses and pressed hard. The Oryxes understandably took the lead halfway through the first half through Iraqi ace Aymen, who converted from the penalty spot.
At the other end, Qatar SC failed to repeat their good form and also to make inroads into the rival territory.
Al Markhiya continued from where they left off in the second half and succeeded in adding three more goals, with Assal, Al Marri and Laallam finding the target.
Later, in the last fixture of the week, Al Sailiya recorded a valuable 5-0 win over Al Shamal at the same venue.
The star of Al Sailiya’s win was Mehrdad Mohammadi, who scored a hat-trick (76th minute penalty, 79 and 90). Carlos Strandberg (45+2) and Mohammed Muddather (60) had scored earlier for The Peregrines.
Registering their second win in the league, Al Sailiya showed superb co-ordination and finishing skills.
While it took them a little while to get their first goal on board, they ran roughshod over their rivals in the second half.
The breakthrough was provided by Al Sailiya’s Swedish striker Strandberg in the added time of the opening half. Put through with a fine ball from the left by Ahmed Al Minhali, Strandberg made big strides to get to it and went on to beat an onrushing goalkeeper Babacar Seck, scoring from an acute angle and just past the left post.
Muddather soon doubled the lead in the second half with a solid strike from well outside the box as the kick beat the diving goalkeeper to his right.
Al Shamal then tried to counter-attack, but many of their attempts in front of the goal did not materialize. Their corner kicks were well directed, but the players could not find a proper connection to trouble the rival defence and goalkeeper.
Later, when Strandberg provided a golden ball inside the ‘D’, Al Shamal’s Loick Landre held on to Ismail Khafi who appealed and the referee had no hesitation in signaling to the spot.
Mehrdad stepped up to score the penalty and his first goal. His second followed off a great cross from Strandberg from the left as Mehrdad ran in into the box and scored, beating the goalkeeper.
His third and hat-trick goal was a fine solo effort as Mehrdad broke past the defenders, kept the ball in control off a rebound from a defender’s feet and charged in to strike from the right.
Al Sailiya’s win took them to seven points from 12 matches, while Al Shamal stood on 10 points from as many games.
