(MENAFN- The Peninsula) Fifth-placed Al Gharafa defeated ninth-placed Al Khor 3-1 in a fast-paced, engaging encounter of the Qatar Stars League yesterday.
Al Gharafa took an early lead when a fine cross found Brazilian midfielder Cicero Santos, who headed home in the seventh minute.
Claudiu Keseru and Cristian Bolanos, too, helped themselves to a goal each in the second half.
Al Khor's lone goal was scored by Julio Peu.
Al Sailiya went ahead through a Faouzi Aish penalty in the 21st minute before Abdulrehman Al Harazi consolidated in the 60th minute. Mamouni Dagano scored the only goal for Al Shamal.
In the final match of the day, Al Shahaniya stunned Umm Salal in a high-scoring encounter.
Al Shahaniya took the lead very early in the match as M. Attiya scored in the second minute of the match.
However, seventh-placed Umm Salal then thumped in three goals with W. Mohiyaddin converting from a penalty in the 12th minute, J. Aliadiere scoring just before halftime and J. Tamer putting them two goals in clear in the 55th minute.
However, Al Shahaniya staged a remarkable comeback with M. Shojaei scoring in the 56th minute, M. Pooladi scoring in the 64th minute and M Pooladi scoring the winning goal from a penalty in the 85th minute.
Today, league leaders Lekhwiya take on Al Kharaitiyat.
Lekhwiya's assistant coach Albert Fernandez has underlined the importance of consistency if they are to go on and win the Qatar Stars League yet again.
"We have many games lined up in a short period of time. All games are very important for us. More now, than before. We got the crucial victory against Sadd and now it's up to us to win all matches and get the title. We know the teams that we have to play and we have to win all those matches," Fernandes said at his pre-match press conference ahead of his team's match with Al Kharaitiyat.
"We know that Kharaitiyat are in a good shape now. They won the best player and best coach of the month. So it will be very difficult for us."
Last week, Lekhwiya defeated Al Sadd 1-0 to go top of the standings with 45 points from 19 matches. They are two clear of Al Sadd, who will be taking on Al Ahli today.
Lekhwiya, who are also involved in the Asian Champions League, however were not to bothered about their busy schedule.
"When you are playing too many games, it will affect the team. But it's also true that our players know the importance of every game that we are
playing. They are professional players, so we shouldn't focus too much on the number of games we are playing. We need to switch our mentality from the Asian Champions League back to the QSL and switch back when needed," said Fernandes.
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