Doha: Al Shamal and Al Khor played out an exciting 1-1 draw in the third-round action of the 2024-2025 season QSL Cup (Group B) at the Thani Bin Jassim Stadium of Al Gharafa club on Saturday.
Al Khor’s goal came in the 71st minute through Ibrahim Nasser Kalla, while Under-21 player Ahmed Hagana restored parity for Al Shamal in the 86th minute.
Al Khor thus secured their first point of the campaign, while Al Shamal extended their points tally to four.
Al Khor were forced to do most of the defending in the early minutes of first half, with Al Shamal pressing hard on their opponents.
With time, Al Khor began to find their feet and they could have gone ahead with taking the lead on a couple of occasions as the match progressed, if not for poor marksmanship on the part of the forwards who could not convert the chances placed before them.
Al Shamal’s Jassim Al Mehairi found himself in an advantageous position against Al Khor goalkeeper Ali Nader Mahmoud just before half-time break, but the Qatari left winger’s shot went high and wide to the left, ensuring that nothing separated the two teams going into half-time.
Al Shamal got a very good chance three minutes into the second half with Al Dokali Al Sayed well-placed for a great strike, but the attacking midfielder’s shot was too feeble to trouble goalkeeper Nader Mahmoud.
After several near-misses, Al Khor eventually broke the deadlock in the 71st minute with an unmarked Nasser Kalla rifling home a left-footed precision shot from inside Al Shamal’s box to the joy and delight of his bench and fans.
With the match seemingly heading for an Al Khor’s win, Hagana came to the rescue of Al Shamal in the 86th minute after he jumped highest to head home a set piece from substitute Younes Belhanda for the equalizer.
While both teams sought an outright win in the closing stages of the game, none of them was unable to breach each other’s defence as the match ended with the spoils evenly shared.
