Ricardo Gomes fired home a hat-trick as Al Shamal defeated Umm Salal 4-3 in Week 16 of the 2023-2024 season Expo Stars League at the Thani Bin Jassim Stadium of Al Gharafa club on Tuesday.

Gomes netted his goals in 12th, 52nd and 79th minutes of play after Mahdi Salem had opened the scoring in the sixth minute for Al Shamal.

Umm Salal’s goals were scored by Marouane Louadni (52nd and 83rd  minutes) and Kenji Gorre (69th minute).

With the result, Al Shamal now have 15 points, while Umm Salal remained on 19 points.

The fans did not have to wait too long for something to cheer about as Al Shamal opened their scoring account in the sixth minute of play, with Salem taking advantage of a blunder from Umm Salal’s backline to rifle home a left-footed shot from 25 yards that went beyond the outstretched hands of goalkeeper Landing Badji.

Six minutes later, they doubled their lead through Cape Verdean professional Gomes. An embarrassing wayward pass from Badji, intended for Naim Laidouni, somehow located Mahdi Salem, who slid a pass to Younes Belhanda, who then located Gomes with an inch-perfect pass for the low-angled shot that grazed the upright on its way into the left-hand corner of Umm Salal’s goal.

With two goals in the kitty, a relaxed and confident Al Shamal were firmly in control from thereon as they kept piling pressure on coach Patrice Carteron team with a series of attacks that their shocked opponents were forced to stave off repeatedly.

Umm Salal had a couple of chances of their own which were not converted, and their penalty call, just before half-time, for a seemingly push on Lucas Joao by Al Shamal’s Jeison Murillo inside their box during an aerial challenge was, however, dismissed by the referee as the first half ended with Al Shamal maintaining their two-goal lead.

A much rejuvenated Umm Salal were seen in action in the second half, as they appeared to have shaken off the shock of being two goals behind with their more purposeful play and impressive distribution of passes. It was therefore not surprising that their efforts paid off in the 52nd minute, with Ludani pulling one back for them from a set piece taken by Oussama Tannane.

The noise that accompanied the goal had hardly died down before Gomes got his brace to restore Al Shamal’s lead 50 seconds later, after excellent work from Belhanda, who waltzed his way into their opponents’ box before laying an excellent pass for Gomes, who had enough time to balance the ball before firing a thunderbolt of a shot into the top left hand corner of Badji’s net to make it 3-1 for Al Shamal.

Gorre raised the hope of a comeback for Umm Salal in the 68th minute after cutting the deficit with a well-driven low shot before Gomes got his hat-trick to make it 4-2 for Al Shamal in the 79th minute.

Four minutes later, Louadni scored another beautiful goal, assisted by Tannane, to again reduce the gap to one.

With the clock running down, Umm Salal threw in all they had in an attempt to run away with at least a point, but Al Shamal stood their ground as they maintained their narrow lead.