Al Kharatiat’s Jaycee John (second from left) is congratulated by teammates after he scored his team’s second goal against Lekhwiya yesterday. (Right) Action from Al Rayyan and Al Wakrah match.

By Sports Reporter/Doha

For the third time in less than 10 days, the Belgian endured a torrid time, watching Lekhwiya struggle to get their game right. A 4-1 drubbing by Guangzhou Evergrande at home in the second-leg quarter-finals of the AFC Champions League hurt badly, but then the Chinese outfit were of superior pedigree and the result was not much of a surprise.

But yesterday’s result surprised    and that is to put it mildly. Hardly displaying any of the panache which saw them win two consecutive QSL titles before Al Sadd ruined their hat-trick bid last season, Lekhwiya crashed to a 2-0 defeat at the hands of Al Kharatiat, leaving them with a lot of catching up to do.

With each team having played just two games in the new season, Lekhwiya are already trailing Al Sadd by five points, the defending champions having won both their matches, including a 1-1 victory over tough rivals Al Rayyan on the opening day.

Lekhwiya, on the other hand, escaped the humiliation of a defeat against minnows Al Sailiya by clinching a last-gasp 3-3 draw. But yesterday, against a team with a reputation for gatecrashing parties, they came up woefully short and paid a heavy price.

Brazilian defender Domingos Dos Santos gave Kharatiat the lead  with a cracking header off a corner in the 22nd minute as the Lekhwiya defence failed to get their act right. And after several missed chances by both sides, Nigerian-born Bahraini international Jaycee John made it 2-0 for Al Kharatiat after collecting a neat pass by Youseff Idrissi and slamming the ball past clueless Lekhwiya goalkeeper Amine Lecomte.

Lekhwiya had several opportunities but some appalling finishing proved their undoing, especially in the second half. Youssef Msakni, their Tunisian mainstay in the forward line, saw a fine chance go to waste as he hurried with his shot and shot straight into Kharatiat goalkeeper Khalifa Ndiaye’s body.

Earlier Issiar Dia’s brilliant shot from the left slammed the post and Msakni fired the rebound wide. To make matters worse for Lekhwiya, striker Sebastian Soria had an off day.

Kharatiat almost made it 3-0 in the 82nd minute, but Lecomte for once made a brilliant save to thwart Mahmoud Halim.

In other matches, Rayyan suffered their second straight defeat when they went down to Al Wakrah 3-1 and El Jaish were held to a goalless draw by Umm Salal.

Forward Sebastian Saez put Al Wakrah in the 69th minute and Michel Souza consolidated in the 78th to put Adnan Darjal’s side in a comfortable position.

Rodrigo Tabata, however, narrowed the margin with n 82nd minute strike for Al Rayyan before another Michel goal in added time helped Wakrah seal their victory.

El Jaish, meanwhile, failed to convert their territorial superiority into goals with  Umm Salal goalkeeper Mohamed Anees bringing off several brilliant saves, especially in the late stages of the second half.