Action from the match between Lekhwiya and Al Gharafa yesterday. PICTURES: Noushad Thekkayil

By Sports Reporter/Doha

Lekwhiya missed a chance to get back to winning ways after they were held to a 1-1 draw by Al Gharafa at the Thani bin Jassim stadium.
Both teams had gone into this match looking to arrest their slide after having endured two consecutive losses. And the lack of confidence that stems from coming from back to back losses was visible on the pitch. Both teams were eager to score the early goal but they couldn’t be incisive in the final one-thirds of the pitch.
Lekhwiya enjoyed more possession but it didn’t convert into a lot of chances. After the first half the defending champions had 60 per cent of the ball but had just three shots to show for it and out of that just one was on target.   
The first great chance in the second half fell to Gharafa’s star striker Alain Dioko. The Congolese striker who was QSL’s top scorer last season hasn’t still gotten his rhythm going and he missed a great chance early in the first half when his header skimmed the bar and went over.
Then in the 60th minute, Gharafa took the lead when skipper Bilal Rajab latched onto the end of a cross from Aden Ali Quilnela and headed it in.
But their lead didn’t last long. Just two minutes later Vladimir Weiss equalized for Lekhwiya with a powerful shot from long range.
Lekhwiya found the spring in their step after this goal and were creating more moves but none of them really troubled Gharafa keeper Qasem Burhan.
They could have snatched the win the 88th minute when Bilal Mohamed brought down Weiss inside the box and the referee pointed to the spot. The Slovakian ended up the hitting the post and though Lekhwiya ended up putting the ball at the back of the net on the rebound, it was deemed to be offside.
Lekhwiya have now slipped to sixth in the table and they will need to put in a stronger performance if they want to have any chance of retaining their title.