Al Gharafa got back to winning ways by beating Umm Salal 2-1 in Week 17 of the 2022-2023 season QNB Stars League at the Al Gharafa Stadium on Friday.

Al Gharafa’s goals were scored by Yacine Brahimi (35th-minute penalty) and Ahmed Al Janahi (57th minute).

Joao Teixeira pulled one back for Umm Salal in 90+4 minute.

Al Gharafa moved on to 26 points from 17 matches with their seventh victory, while Umm Salal stood on 13 points from 17 games.

It may be recalled that Umm Salal and Al Gharafa had played out a 2-2 draw in the first leg of 2022-2023 season QNB Stars League.

Al Gharafa started the match strongly, with a strong desire to compensate for losing to Al Arabi in the last round, in the postponed match from Week 10.

Al Gharafa were in control for most part of the first half and were able to take the lead after half hour when the referee awarded a penalty kick when Abdulrahman Raafat ‘handled’ the ball and Brahimi was spot-on from the spot.

At the other end, Umm Salal lagged behind.

In the second half, Brahimi gave more teeth to the Al Gharafa attack and Al Janahi scored their second goal.

After that, Al Gharafa gained more confidence and made many attempts, while Umm Salal did not appear at the level that they presented during their 1-0 win over Al Shamal in the postponed match from Week 10.

Umm Salal could reduce the gap in stoppage time through Teixeira off a pass from Yassin Al Bakhit. But that was all they could do.