QSL
Al Duhail staged a brilliant comeback to beat Al Markhiya 3-1 in Week 14 of the 2022-2023 season QNB Stars League at the Al Duhail Stadium on Monday.
Held back by a determined Al Markhiya defence in the goalless opening half and trailing by a goal in the second, league leaders Al Duhail scored three goals in a matter of five minutes to seal the deal.
After Al Markhiya substitute Ali Saeed Al Mohannadi opened the scoring in the 55th minute of the match, The Red Knights rallied to bounce back, bombarding the rivals with goals in the 73rd minute (Khaled Mohammed), 76th minute (Michael Olunga) and 78th minute (Nam Tae-Hee).
The win took Al Duhail’s tally to 32 points from 13 matches at the top, while Al Markhiya stayed on 12 points from 11 matches.
Al Duhail had their chances in the first half of the match as well, but their strikers could not connect well, with crucial kicks missing the posts. Almoez Ali once even got the ball into the net on the half-hour mark, but it was ruled offside.
Early after half-time, Al Markhiya surprised their fancied rivals when Ali waiting at the top of the box was given a fine pass by Driss Fettouhi and he broke through to beat a diving goalkeeper for the ball to go into the far left corner of the net.
Hit by the reversal, Al Duhail reorganized themselves to stage the comeback. They needed a bit of time, but they hit back strongly.
The equalizer came from a 25-yard long volley strike of Khaled Mohammed which beat players and the goalkeeper diving to his right.
Olunga then fetched the lead minutes later with a brilliant left-foot strike from just outside the box that went in like a rocket.
Nam then joined in the celebrations scoring his fourth goal of the season while rushing in and being given a good pass by Olunga right in front of the goal.
This was Al Duhail’s fifth successive win in the QNB Stars League since resumption after the World Cup break.
Al Duhail had also won the Qatar Cup semifinal against Al Wakrah recently.