Al Duhail prevailed over Al Wakrah 1-0 in Week 12 of the 2022-2023 season QNB Stars League at the Al Wakrah Stadium on Monday.

The strong contest, marked by attacking play from both sides and produced many exciting moments for the fans, went in The Red Knights’ favour, thanks to the goal by Yousef Ayman scored in the third minute of the match.

Left unmarked, he scored off a perfect header making most of a super-flying pass of Khaled Mohammed following a quick corner kick. It was as easy as it could come for Farahat.

The goal also saw Al Duhail tie with Al Wakrah on most goals in the league so far (22).

While Al Duhail stayed at the top of the rankings with 26 points from 11 matches, The Blue Wave stood on 18 points from 10 games.

Jolted by the early setback, Al Wakrah battled hard and had many chances, but they could not capitalize on them.

Al Duhail too were found wanting at crucial moments. In the 20th minute, their striker Almoez Ali had a golden chance from a brilliant cross while in the centre of the ‘D’, but he failed to beat an onrushing goalkeeper Saoud Al Khater.

Later, in the 38th minute it was Al Wakrah’s Khaled Munir who could not control his shot when provided with a golden chance in front of the goal. Khaled Munir had to deflect a long pass, but he shot wide.

In the 50th minute, Almoez again had a good chance, but his shot was well held by Wakrah’s goalkeeper.

Two minutes later, Al Wakrah’s Mohamed Benyettou scored, but was ruled off-side. He ran in from the centre line to get a long ball and score but the flag was up.

Al Wakrah were more attacking in the second half, but lacked a good finish. Jacinto Dala was their most hard-working player and on one occasion even tried to essay a bicycle kick but couldn’t succeed.

Al Duhail kept breaking through the rival defence in between and in the 69th minute, Michael Olunga took a long shot, but his ferocious kick sailed over the crossbar.

The dying minutes of the match saw some frenetic action and Al Wakrah again had to rue their luck as Lucas Mendes’ free-kick broke through the wall, but curled a bit too much to go away from the right goal post.

Al Duhail coach Hernan Crespo made three changes to his side that played against Al Shamal in Week 11. Karim Boudiaf came in as a substitute for Assim Madibo in the 18th minute.