DOHA: Sebastian Saez was the hero for Al Wakrah as his late strike helped his team defeat Al Kharaitiyat 1-0 and earn a crucial victory in their Qatar Stars League (QSL) clash.
These three points also helped Al Wakrah jump once place in the table at the expense of Al Kharaitiyat. The match between ‘direct opponents’ was a closely contested affair.
Al Wakrah were coming off a 6-2 thumping at the hands of Lekhwiya and looked keen to show that result was an anomaly. They enjoyed a large share of the possession ending up with 57 per cent at the end of the match but that didn’t translate into too many chances which they could score off.
And the ones that they could get a goal from were wasted.
Towards the end of the first half, Hussein Yasser missed a chance with just the goalkeeper to beat and Saez too failed to connect to a great cross into the box.
The second half didn’t see any change in script.
Al Wakrah building attacks and Al Kharaitiyat waiting to pounce on the counter. Al Wakrah had a goal disallowed in the 63rd minute when Mohamed Mohamed headed the ball into the net but was adjudged to have fouled an Al Kharaitiyat defender in the process. With a stalemate looking likely, despite Al Wakrah being the dominant side, it was Saez who finally broke the deadlock in the 82nd minute.
Yasser delivered a good pass into the box and the Argentinean headed it into the far corner of the net and proceeded to run all the way to his bench to celebrate.
Al Kharaitiyat, meanwhile, will be left ruing a sitter which was missed early in the game which could have given them the lead.
In the 8th minute Anwar Deya crossed into the box and Yahia Kebe was unmarked with a vast expanse of the goal in front of him but the Burkinabe striker headed horribly wide.
Amar Osim’s boys will feel frustrated at not having gotten more out of the game but Al Wakrah were the dominant side.
In another match, Al Sailiya beat Al Khor 2-0. Abdulqadir Ilyas Adam (7) and Sayaf Mohsin Korbi (50) scored the goals for winners Al Sailiya.
THE PENINSULA
