Al Ahli upstaged reigning champions Al Sadd 2-1 in Week 15 of the 2022-2023 season QNB Stars League at the Al Ahli Stadium on Monday.

The Brigadiers hit back after trailing 0-1 for most part of the opening half showing the form they did at the start of the season.

While Akram Afif had put Al Sadd ahead in the 36th minute, Oumar Sekou scored for Al Ahli in the 45th and 71st minutes.

The win saw Al Ahli, who had lost 0-4 to Al Rayyan in the previous round, move to 20 points. Al Sadd remained on 22 points.

Sekou stole the show and even had one strike ruled out for offside as Al Ahli kept their rivals at bay especially in the eight added minutes of the match.

Al Sadd came close to equalizing many a time, but they failed to find the target.

The Wolves had a promising start when Baghdad Bounedjah’s header in the 13th minute was well-stopped by rival goalkeeper Yazan Naim, who made another close save in the 24th minute.

The mercurial Akram opened the scoring when he first initiated the move and then broke past the defence into the box to strike a telling goal.

Al Ahli managed to equalize just ahead of half-time when a free-kick of theirs hit the defence wall and came back into play. Al Dokali Al Sayed then lobbed the ball in for an unmarked Oumar to lunge from the right inside the box and score with a header.

Oumar’s second was a fine field goal from his own move down the right. He sent in a cross, but a defensive error by Al Sadd’s Musaab Khedir saw the ball go back to a rushing Oumar to send in a successful left strike this time.

Al Sadd, who till then had already seen two hits go well and over the goal, tried hard to level the scores, but in vain.

There was a scramble in front of Al Ahli goal in the dying minutes of the match as Al Sadd attacked. Once Hassan Al Haydous’ kick was stopped at the right post by an alert defender, while Santi Cazorla, who had a clear chance, shot feebly for the goalkeeper to collect. Bounedjah then tried to go for the kill, but he too shot wide.