Al Sadd’s Jugurtha Hamroun celebrates his goal against Al Gharafa yesterday.
DOHA: In a dominating performance, Doha giants Al Sadd yesterday crushed former champions Al Gharafa 4-0, thanks largely to a brace each by Jugurtha Hamroun and Hassan Al Haydos.
In a game played at Thani Bin Jassim Stadium, the home turf of Al Gharafa, Hamroun scored his two goals in the first half (33 and 45) while Al Haydos found the net twice in the second half (73 and 87) to complete a resounding win for Al Sadd who are hot on the heels of points QNB Stars League points leaders Al Duhail.
Coached by Portuguese Jesualdo Ferreira, Al Sadd (34 points) are a notch behind Al Duhail (35) who take on Al Rayyan in a round 14 clash tomorrow.
In the sixth minute, Al Gharafa captain Wesley Sneijder found Carlos inside the Al Sadd box but the latter’s deflection from close range missed the target. In the 7th minute, feared Al Sadd striker Al Haydos went long-range on a shot that sailed past the Al Gharafa goalpost without causing any harm.
In the 15th minute, Al Gharafa’s Tamir Gamal charged into the Al Sadd box but his low show beat goalkeeper Saad Abdulla but missed the goalpost narrowly.
In the 33rd minute, Al Sadd broke the deadlock in scoring.
Al Haydos outran and outwitted marker Carlos before slipping a cross to Jugurtha who calmly deflected the ball into the net from close range. It was Jugurtha’s seventh goal of the season. Seconds from the end of the first half, Jugurtha scored his second goal after a cross from Hamid Ismail.
The Algerian deflected the ball towards the Al Sadd goal but Al Gharafa keeper Burhan blocked the shot. Jugurtha, however, made the most of a fumble by Burhan who had lost control of the ball. Despite being down on the pitch, Jugurtha flicked the lose ball into the net to consolidate Al Sadd’s lead, giving himself a brace and taking his overall tally to 8 goals in the season.
In the 52nd minute, Jugurtha missed an easy deflection from close range when he was provided with a neat cross from the right flank.
In a spell of 14 minutes, Al Sadd star and Qatar national team forward Al Haydos struck twice - first in the 73rd minute as he deflected the ball into the net on a Jugurtha cross.
Three minutes from the end, Al Haydos scored his second goal with another close-range strike as Al Sadd completed a dominating show.
