Doha: Michael Olunga’s 42nd minute diving header gave Al Duhail a 1-0 victory against Al Ahli in Week 7 of the 2024-2025 season Ooredoo Stars League at the Al Thumama Stadium on Saturday.
With the victory, table-topping Al Duhail, who suffered their only defeat of the season so far against Al Shahania in the previous round, returned to winning ways and took their points tally to 18 from seven matches, while Al Ahli remained on 14 points.
Al Ahli pressed hard from the blast of the opening whistle, and Al Duhail’s goalkeeper Salah Zakaria was forced to make some fantastic saves in the early minutes, prominent among which was his seventh minute parrying of Oumar Sekou’s thunderbolt of a shot from the centre of the box, which drew applause from the stands.
Ten minutes into the game, the Red Knight’s Olunga missed what could have been the opening goal with his header from the right side of the box going narrowly wide.
The highly entertaining game became evenly matched as it wore on, with each side making repeated attempts to get an early goal, but despite all of their efforts, the defence on both sides remained locked, with none of the attackers unable to penetrate.
Al Duhail’s Frenchman Benjamin Bourigeaud forced a corner kick after stunning the palms of goalkeeper Marwan Badreldin with a thunderbolt of a shot in the 38th minute, but the eventual deadball situation did not produce the desired result.
While it seemed the match was heading towards a goalless half-time, Olunga’s produced a brilliant diving header in the 42nd minute from a diagonal cross by Edmilson Junior to put Al Duhail ahead.
A stunned Al Ahli put in desperate efforts to restore parity before halftime, but their attempts notwithstanding, Al Duhail took their lead into the break.
Al Duhail came out of the dugout virtually on fire, and they could have added to their tally within five minutes of the second half if not for some poor finishing upfront.
The Brigadiers missed a chance of levelling up in the 65th minute, with Idrissa Doumbin’s final touch going narrowly wide after Sekou had brilliantly done most of the legwork in Al Duihail’s final third.
Despite Al Ahli’s attempt at getting the desperately needed equaliser, Al Duhail remained unyielding as they maintained their sole lead till the last kick of the thrilling match.
