Al Markhiya tasted success as they bounced back from being a goal down to beat Al Ahli by a 4-1 margin in their Week 20 match of the 2023-2024 season Expo Stars League at the Al Thumama Stadium on Saturday.

The goals for Al Markhiya came from Mohammed Khaled Al Naimi (30th minute), Bashar Resan (43rd and 90th minutes), and Naoufal Bannis (83rd minute). Julian Draxler scored for Al Ahli in the 22nd minute.

It was a telling performance from Al Markhiya who are looking to wriggle out of a difficult position, now having raised their tally to 11 points with their third win of the league though they are still in 12th place. Al Ahli are in ninth spot with 20 points.

Al Markhiya made a fluent attacking start, with their star Yusupha Nije making a big strike in the 20th minute, but his kick went just wide to the left of goal.

Two minutes later, Al Ahli shocked their rivals as Draxler struck after exciting goal-mouth action. Draxler first moved in from the left to provide a pass to Al Dokali Al Sayed, who drove from just outside the box and goalkeeper Loukay Ashour made a save with both hands, but the ball fell to Oumar Sekou who made a back flip and Al Markhiya’s Naby Sarr rushed in to head the ball out, but Draxler was again waiting to put the ball back into the goal.

Al Markhiya did not take long to hit back and as Al Naimi made a spectacular header off a long free-kick to draw parity.

The contest became livelier as Al Markhiya matched their rivals and went up the lead just before the break, with Abdulrahman Moustafa moving down the right to pass the ball to Al Dokali who sent in a cross for a waiting Bashar Resan to make a rasping volley kick into the left corner of the net (2-1).

The second session was a long-drawn battle between the two sides as Al Ahli looked to make openings, but could not succeed.

Eventually, Al Markhiya dashed all Al Ahli hopes as Bashar cut through from the right to send the ball to Njie, who made a back pass for a waiting Naoufal Bannis to strike powerfully into the far left corner (3-1).

Bashar Resan towards the end provided more icing on the cake as he hit from left top of the box to beat a diving goalkeeper for Al Marhkiya’s fourth goal of the match.