Al Shamal and Al Wakrah played out a 0-0 draw in their postponed match from Week 8 of the 2022-2023 season QNB Stars League at the Al Sadd Stadium on Saturday.

While the match produced a lot of exciting action, none of the teams could settle the issue despite coming close to scoring on numerous occasions.

Al Wakrah’s Murad Naji was shown a red card in the 88th minute for dangerously sliding into Al Shamal goalkeeper Babacar Seck in the danger area. It resulted in The Blue Wave playing the remaining time and added nine minutes of stoppage time with a player less on the field.

The stalemate meant the teams could add only one valuable point to their tally.

Al Wakrah are now on 20 points from 14 matches and Al Shamal 11 points from 13 matches.

The opening half was more of a seesaw battle, but the teams pushed hard in the second half producing exciting action.

In the 58th minute, Al Wakrah’s Mohammed Khaled was well positioned at the top of the box, with Al Shamal scampering in defence, but the player made a wrong pass in front of the goal for the move to fizzle out.

Three minutes later, Al Shamal’s Ali Olwan made a good attempt at Al Wakrah’s goal, but it was foiled by custodian Omair Abdullah, who made some good saves in the match.

In the 64th minute, Al Wakrah again came close to being able to force their way, but this time substitute Mohamed Benyettou fumbled at a crucial moment.

Both teams continued to make attempts and in the 73rd minute, Al Shamal’s Olwan had a good chance, but he could not beat the challenge of Al Wakrah’s Ibrahim Ahmed.

In the 84th minute, an Al Shamal kick missed the mark again going past the right goal post.

Soon, Al Wakrah received the red card and they fell back to defending more, while Al Shamal too could not benefit much in their attack.

Al Wakrah were also held to a goalless draw by Umm Salal in their previous round.

The result was an improvement for Al Shamal, who had lost their previous game to Al Gharafa 2-3.