Al Duhail overwhelmed Muaither 5-2 in their postponed match from Week 13 of the 2023-2024 season Expo Stars League at the Grand Hamad Stadium of Al Arabi club on Wednesday.

While Kenyan Michael Olunga scored a brace in the eighth & 80th minutes, Almoez Ali (40th minute), Philippe Coutinho (46th minute) and Rashid Al Abdulla (89th minute) got one each.

Muaither’s scorers were Hugo Gomes (23rd minute) and Ayman El Hassouni (42nd minute).

Muaither looked to challenge the reigning champions as they bounced back twice to draw parity and the teams went into the break at 2-2, but Al Duhail returned only to pump in three more goals and dash the hopes of the rivals.

The win saw Al Duhail improve their tally to 28 points.

The result, however, left Muaither stuck on 14 points in 11th place and in battle with bottom-placed Al Markhiya (also on 14 points) to clinch the relegation play-off spot.

Al Duhail began on a strong note, with Olunga heading in a superb cross of Sultan Al Breik from the left.

Four minutes later, Olunga drove in another successful strike, but Almoez, who provided the assist, was found offside.

Muaither then hit back with an equalizer as Gomes headed-in a Denis Alibec flag kick smartly rising high to get to the ball near the left post.

Almoez put Al Duhail back in front as he slammed in a long-ranger after Coutinho tried to break through the defence cordon and the ball came back to him.

Within minutes, Muaither levelled back again as Saif Al Mohannadi grabbed a chance following a battle for the ball and provided El Hassouni with the pass to score (2-2).

Al Duhail did not waste any time on resumption as Coutinho scored off an Olunga cross from the left for The Red Knights to be back in the lead (3-2).

Muaither then did well to hold the formidable rivals at bay. Their own efforts to gain another equalizing goal also did not materialize as in the 74th minute a goal was ruled out after VAR.

Soon, Olunga dashed into the box and despite being clipped at the heels by a defender managed to beat the goalkeeper to score before eventually falling down (4-2).

Al Duhail once again made most of the long ball and caught the Muaither defence by surprise as an unmarked Al Abdulla ran in from the right to beat the goalkeeper with ease scoring his team’s fifth and final goal of the match.