Wakrah striker Sebastian Saez (atop) celebrates after scoring what turned out to be the winner against Kharaitiyat yesterday.

By Sports Reporter/Doha


Sebastian Saez was the hero for Al Wakrah as his late strike helped his team defeat Al Kharaitiyat 1-0 and earn a crucial victory. These three points also helped Wakrah jump once place in the table at the expense of Kharaitiyat.
The match between ‘direct opponents’ was a closely contested affair. Wakrah were coming off a 6-2 thumping at the hands of Lekhwiya and looked keen to show that that result was an anomaly. They enjoyed a large share of the possession ending up with 57 per cent at the end of the match but that didn’t translate into too many chances which they could score off. And the ones that they could get a goal from were wasted.  
Towards the end of the first half, Hussein Yasser missed a chance with just the goalkeeper to beat and Saez too failed to connect to a cross into the box.
The second half didn’t see any change in script. Wakrah building attacks and Kharaitiyat waiting to pounce on the counter. Wakrah had a goal disallowed in the 63rd minute when Mohamed Mohamed headed the ball into the net but was adjudged to have fouled a Kharaitiyat defender in the process.
With a stalemate looking likely, despite Wakrah being the dominant side, it was Saez who finally broke the deadlock in the 82nd minute. Yasser delivered a good pass into the box and the Argentinean headed it into the far corner of the net and proceeded to run all the way to his bench to celebrate.
Kharaitiyat meanwhile will be left ruing a sitter which was missed early in the game which could have given them the lead. In the 8th minute Anwar Deya crossed into the box and Yahia Kebe was unmarked with a vast expanse of the goal in front of him but the Burkinabé striker headed horribly wide.
Amar Osim’s boys will feel frustrated at not having gotten more out of the game but Wakrah were the dominant side and they had a certain Saez to close out matters.

SAILIYA BEAT KHOR 2-0
In the earlier match of the day, Al Sailiya put in a clinical performance to defeat Al Khor 2-0. Sailiya who were coming off a morale-boosting 2-1 victory over Al Sadd scored on either side of the break to take three points.
Sailiya grabbed an early lead when Abdulqadir Ilyas scored in the seventh minute.  They held onto that lead till the end of the first half.
And then at the start of the second half, they scored again to extend their lead. This time it was Sayaf Mohsin Korbi who found the back of the net for Sailiya in the 50th minute. And again, the Peregrines were able to hold on till the end to wrap up what was their second win in a row.