Al Wakrah defeated Muaither 4-2 in an exciting Week 12 match of the 2023-2024 season Expo Stars League at the Hamad Bin Khalifa Stadium of Al Ahli club on Wednesday.

Al Wakrah got off to a dream start against Muaither after bagging two goals within the first five minutes of play to arguably set the record for the fastest brace of the season by any team in the league, before Muaither equalised later in the first half to make the latter half a keener contest.

Khalid Munir (seconnd minute), Rabeh Yahia Boussafi (fifth minute), Mohamed Benyettou (63rd minute) and Jacinto Dala (74th minute) were on target for Al Wakrah, while Muaither’s goals were scored by Denis Alibec (30th minute) and Ayman El Hassouni (34th minute penalty).

The result moved Al Wakrah, in their first match under Jose Murcia who temporarily replaced fellow Spaniard Marquez Lopez, to 27 points in the table, while Muaither remained on six points.

Munir’s acrobatic left-footed goal, from a Boussafi pass, 92 seconds after kick-off set the tone of the night for The Blue Wave before Boussafi turned from an assist provider to a scorer in the fifth minute after connecting well to Munir’s swerving pass to fire in a 30-yard banger of a shot to make it two for the visitors.

Jolted by the early goals, Muaither tried to make a quick recovery as they started getting into the game with more purposeful play. Denis Alibec got their first major opportunity in the 14th minute, but his left-footed shot from the right side of the box went just inches wide to the left.

They could not, however, be denied for too long as they reduced the deficit in the 30th minute, with Alibec firing home a left-footed shot from the centre of the box following an assist by Fouad Saleh.

The goal celebration had hardly died down when El Hassouni drew a foul in Al Wakrah’s penalty area after being brought down by goalkeeper Saoud Al Khater in a one-on-one situation. El Hassouni rose up to expertly convert the resultant penalty kick in the 34th minute, with a right-footed shot to the bottom left corner that had Al Khater diving in the opposite direction, to restore parity for his team.

With the match even at half-time, Muaither started the concluding half with frantic efforts to take the lead. Their top scorer Guy Mbenza rattled the bar with a left-footed shot from the centre of the box just a minute after resumption before El Hassouni missed another attempt 27 seconds later.

Al Wakrah had a couple of chances of their own with Hamdi Fathy orchestrating things upfront, but all their efforts yielded no fruit until the 63rd minute, when Benyettou was well on time to connect to a cross from Boussafi with a powerful header to restore their lead.

Dala brought back Al Wakrah’s two-goal advantage in the 74th minute after Munir took advantage of Muaither’s defensive error to slide in a pass to the Angolan striker, who wasted no time in beating goalkeeper Ivanildo Rodrigues with a left-footed shot from the left side of the box to the relief of their teeming fans, who had been on the edge after they threw up their initial two-goal advantage.

Al Wakrah maintained their lead despite all efforts from Muaither to stage a comeback and ran away with the maximum points.