Al Shahaniyah's Rahim Abbas Mehdi (left) vies for the ball possession with an Al Wakrah player during their Qatar Stars League match which ended in a two-all draw at Al Wakrah Stadium yesterday.
Bottom placed team of Qatar Stars League (QSL) this season, Al Wakrah forced a two-all draw with Al Shahaniya under challenging weather at Al Wakrah Stadium yesterday.
Shahaniya grabbed a first half lead though the head of Rahim Zahivi, before drawing level from the penalty spot from captain Moucine Moutalli. Late in the second half Zahivi scored again for Shahaniya, before being pegged back from Moutalli via another penalty.
Al Shahaniya made the perfect start to the relegation clash with Iranian striker Rahim Zahivi opened the scoring on the sixth minute with a powerful header from a Mesaad Al Hamad cross. Emboldened it was the away side who had the better of the chances in the opening fifteen minutes of the tie. Rahim Zahivi perhaps should of doubled his tally on the eleventh minute, however his free-kick was well saved by Wakrah keeper Hassan Idriss.
With seventeen minutes on the clock, Wakrah registered their first chance of note with striker Maher Yusef missing a crucial chance to draw his side level. Moucine Moutalli made a made a surging run on the left wing, and picked out Maher Yusef, but the Qatari player failed to come up with the finish when it mattered.
Wakrah began to find their feet in the game, and registered two key chances to draw left. First up midfielder Waheed Mohammed struck from distance which was saved by Khalifa Al Dossari. Then Wakrah defender Johar Al Kaabisaw his header just go wide from the resulting corner as The Blue Waves began to up the pressure on the visitors.
Kais Yâakoubi’s side continued to dominate in the second half, with Moucine Moutalli starring for the Blue Waves. Wakrah’s pressure eventually told, as they where rewarded with a penalty on the sixty third minute. Moutalli stepped up and made no mistake from the penalty spot drilling the ball into the centre of the goal.
Against the run of play, Al Shahaniya took the lead again as Rahim Zahivi slotted away his second goal of the game. Smart holdup play from Jean Mangoua saw the Ivorian lay the ball off to his Iranian team-mate who promptly smashed the ball into the bottom corner.
Just a minute later Wakrah were awarded a second penalty of the evening as Muaaz Al-Salemi was bundled down in the box.
Again Mouhcine Moutouali stepped up for his side and scored his second goal of the evening. Both sides then pushed on in the driving rain for a winner with both Wakrah and Shahaniya guilty of missing late chances.
On the eighty second minute Shahaniya striker Rahim Zahivi played the offside trap perfectly but with the goal at his mercy, and the chance to grab a hat-trick the Iranian slotted well wide. Whilst in stoppage time Wakrah striker Maher Yusef was denied a winner thanks to a spectacular save from Khalifa Al Dossari. The 2-2 draw does little for both sides survival chances.
Elsewhere, Valentin Lazar scored a beauty in the 90th minute to hand a thrilling 2-1 victory to Al Sailiyah against Al Wakrah SC.
Later, Al Gharafa Club lived upto expectations with a 1-0 win against Al Khor thanks to a 13th minute penalty scored by their star striker Kriztian Nemeth.
