Match Summary
Umm Salal beat Al Ahli in a fiery encounter in front of a packed crowd at the Grand Hamad stadium tonight.

The match attendance was 11, 406 as the Brigadiers took on Barzan’s Falcons. The first half was tough and physical but with little to show for it. The second half saw both teams play an even game but  in the end one goal from Umm Salal was all it took to seal the victory for the boys in white.

There was plenty of controversy late on with a disallowed Alain Dioko goal that could have salvaged a point for the greens, the referee however thought otherwise.

Post-match report
The first 15 minutes were an open and free flowing affair but neither side could manage to unlock the others defense.

Around the half hour mark play was stopped for five minutes as Ahmad Sayyid received treatment for a head injury near the Umm Salal penalty area.

Umm Salal started to have the lion’s share of the possession which meant Al Ahli was forced to play on the counter attack.

Both teams went into the break with nothing to show for an exciting yet frustrating 45 minutes at the Grand Hamad stadium.

The second half kicked off and a mistake by Ali Qaderi almost cost Al Ahli dear when his back-pass lacked sufficient power, but Brazilian defender Pedro came to the rescue with a last ditch tackle (48').

Al Ahli started to dominate the possession late on in the second half, something that head coach Máčala would have surely talked about during the half time break. 

Although there was a fast tempo to the game, the final pass from both sides often lacked the necessary quality.

Head coach Bülent Uygun decided to change things up with a double substitution but before he had time to bring them on, his side finally broke the deadlock.

Abdulgadir Ilyas Adam won the aerial challenge in Al Ahli’s penalty area, directed the ball towards teammate Ahmed Fathi Ahmed who headed the ball into the goal (66’).

After the celebrations Ismail Mahmoud Mardanli came on for Ahmad Mohamed Sayyid to add more of a threat to Umm Salal’s attack as the head coached urged his players to get a second.

Al Ahli had a chance to equalize in the 88^th minute when Ali Mohammad Jasemi played a great through ball to Dioko but the striker’s goal was disallowed. The replay showed that both the defender and Dioko went for a shoulder-to-shoulder challenge, which resulted in Dioko out-powering his opponent.

The decision was a controversial one as the linesman on the far side hadn’t raised his flag; the men in green pleaded but to no avail as the referee disallowed the goal and restarted the game.

The drama continued to unfold, this time at the other end of the field when Ahli goal keeper Amer Abdulla Dosari clashed with forward Abdulgadir Ilyas Adam. The keeper was well outside of his area but the challenge was a fair one. Both men had built up a head of steam and the inevitable one-on-one clash left them in a heap on the floor!

The referee blew for full time on a night of drama, physicality and disappointment for the men in green who even after the final whistle made their protests to the officials forcefully known.

For Umm Salal, the win pushed them one place up to 7^th and in buoyant mood going into the one month break from the Qatar Stars League.