Al Sailiya's Giannis Fetfatzidis shoots to score against Al Shamal. Pic. Mohammed Farag
Doha: Al Sailiya beat Al Shamal 2-1 in their second match of the QNB Stars League season while Al Wakrah and Al Gharafa played out a 1-1 draw.
At the Education City Stadium Al Sailiya earned their first three points through Giannis Fetfatzidis (15) and Carlos Strandberg (68) while Mohamed El Sayed (8) scored for Al Shamal.
Al Shamal got into the lead early in the match through a fine relay combination of Salmeen Atiq Al Rumaihi, who crossed a pass to Yacine Bammou before he moved it over for Mohamed El Sayed to beat the goalkeeper from top of the box.
Al Sailiya soon got the equaliser from a brilliant free kick taken by their Greek winger Giannis Fetfatzidis from well outside the penalty area. His almost 25-yard curler went between a two-men wall and past a diving goalkeeper into the left corner of the goal.
Al Shamal then made several attempts to hit back raiding the rival goal but with no success.
The second half saw more frenetic action with both teams playing creating many open spaces.
Al Shamal came close again this time through a header at the goal but the alert goalkeeper made a good save.
The see-saw battle to make a breakthrough continued and Al Sailiya made the most of a defence lapse when Al Shamal’s Al Rumaihi failed to stop a cross which deflected towards a waiting Carlos Strandberg inside the box and the Swedish striker made no mistake in striking the winning goal.
The final 30 minutes of the match saw Al Shamal make all their efforts with players sharing some heated exchanges but Al Sailiya held on well for the first win of the new season.
Elsewhere, both Al Wakrah and Al Gharafa got a point each and continue to remain unbeaten.
Uzbek star Islom Tukhtakhujaev scored for Al Gharafa in the 39th minute at the Khalifa International Stadium while Al Wakrah’s Angolan forward Gelson Dala equalised in the 48th minute.
