QSL
Mohamed Benyettou scored a last-gasp winner as Al Wakrah defeated Al Duhail 2-1 in Week 17 of the 2023-2024 season Expo Stars League at the Al Janoub Stadium on Sunday.
Benyettou scored in 90+3 minute after Khaled Ali had equalised for The Blue Wave in the 62nd minute of the thrilling encounter. Michael Olunga scored the game’s opening goal for Al Duhail in the 25th minute.
With the result, Al Wakrah returned to winning ways, having not scored a victory in the last three rounds, and they are now on 31 points, while Al Duhail, who have not won since the eighth round when they defeated Al Rayyan, remained on 19 points.
Considering the desperate need for a win from both teams to stem the tide of unfavourable results they have been experiencing of late, it was therefore not surprising that the two sides went headlong into attack right from the blast of the whistle in an attempt to secure an early goal but without any result, at least for the first 20 minutes.
Al Duhail began to grow stronger with each passing minute and Michael Olunga finally put them ahead in the 25th minute with a simple tap in into an empty net after a defensive error by Lucas Sainsbury, whose backpass header evaded the onrushing goalkeeper Saoud Al Khater, leaving the onrushing Olunga with the simplest of tasks to make it 1-0 for The Red Knights.
Al Duhail had what seemed to be a penalty call a minute later when Almoez Ali’s shot appeared to have hit the hand of Al Wakrah’s Hamdy Fathi. But the call was stood down by the referee, with the subsequent review proving him right.
Al Wakrah had two wonderful opportunities to equalise within the span of a minute, but were denied by the crossbar on each occasion, first through Rabeh Yahya’s 30-yard shot and soon another cracking shot by Fathi 37 seconds later.
Much as the rivals tried, Al Duhail maintained their lead going into half-time break.
Al Wakrah substituted Ahmed Fadel for Khaled Ali during the break, and the arrival of the Qatari midfielder appeared to have an effect on the team, as the ball distribution and passing proved to be much better.
He stamped his presence on the game in the 62nd minute when he got the equaliser for Al Wakrah with a low, but well-driven left-footed shot from the edge of the 25-yard box to give the home crowd something to cheer about.
Stunned by the goal, Al Duhail became more desperate as they attempted to ensure there is a change in their fortune with waves of relentless attack on Al Wakrah’s defence which stood unshakenly resolute.
Despite several attempts from coach Christophe Galtier’s Al Duhail side, it was Al Wakrah who had the last laugh as Benyettou ensured his team got the maximum points in the high-octane encounter after grabbing the winner with a fine header from Khaled Ali’s corner kick in the third minute of additional time.