DOHA: Title contenders Al Sadd and Lekhwiya, yesterday registered hard-fought victories over their respective counterparts to keep close battle for the top position at the the Qatar Stars League (QSL) alive.
Al Sadd who suffered a shock defeat against Al Shahaniya in round 15 showed little improvement as they needed a last-gasp goal from Jung Song Lee to edge out lower-ranked Al Kharaitiyat 3-2 at the Al Gharafa Stadium.
Rodrigo Barbosa Tabata who scored a brace in the match gave Al Sadd lead in the 34 minute which they maintained till the half-time. After the breather, Al Kharaitiyat leveled the lead with Abdulaziz Rashid Ansari netting the ball in 56th minute.
The Hussain Amute’s side regained the lead with Tabata scoring his second goal in the 81st minute but Hasan Abdel-fattah Mahmoud drew level, seven minutes later before Lee struck the winner in the 90th minute.
Defending champions Lekhwiya also rallied to beat Al Khor 4-2 - after an own at the crucial stage. Lekhwiya were trailing 1-2 before Al Khor player Helal Mohamed Ibrahim’s error gifted point table leaders, the leveler.
Al Khor took the lead first in 17th minute through William Junior Souza and against went ahead when Ibrahim scored in 66th minute after Ismail Mohamad scored first goal for the of the Michael Laudrup’s side.
Spurred with the own goal, Lekhwiya took the lead for the first time in 80th minute of the match with Vadimir Weiss being the scorer. Khalid Muftah sealed the 4-2 triumph by scoring in stoppage time. Lekhwiya will continue to sit on top spot over second-placed Al Sadd due to a better goal difference as both teams have earned 36 points each from 15 matches.
Meanwhile, El Jaish recorded a comparatively comfortable victory when they prevailed over Umm Salal 3-1 at the Lekhwiya Stadium, to regain third position.
Elsewhere, Al Sailiya earned full points with a 1-0 win over Al Shahaniyia.THE PENINSULA
