Doha: Al Rayyan continued winning ways as they defeated Al Khor 4-2 in the Round 5 of the Qatar Stars League while Umm Salal and Al Sailiya bagged full points.

In the other match yesterday Al Kharaitiyat and Al Ahli were locked in an two-all draw.

At Al Gharafa Stadium in yet another commanding display the newly promoted side maintained their all win record to register a fifth successive win.

All the action for Rayyan took place in the first half where they scored all of their four goals. Khor tried to make a comeback in the second half but they simply couldn’t match the superiority of Rayyan.

Rayyan laid down the marker as early as in the second minute when skipper Rodrigo Tabata opened the scoring with an opportunist header. Seabstian Soria was the provider when he crossed from the right flank.

Khor goalkeeper Baba Kane came out to punch the ball away but failed to connect and Tabata was there to head it in.

The skipper injured himself in the process having collided with the post but recovered much to the relief of the Al Rayyan coaching staff.

Rayyan continued to dominate however Khor did grab a surprise equaliser in the 19th minute when Madson delivered a cross in the box and unmarked Mubarak Saadi was on hand to head the ball into the near corner.

Khor where only level for four minutes before Gonzalo Viera put Rayyan back in the lead. The summer signing bundled the ball in from close range from a Rodrego Tabata corner.

Rayyan quickly added to their lead just two minutes later through Mohamed Alalawi who scored with a scorcher give Rayyan a 3-1 lead.

The fourth goal came just before the end of the first half in the 46th minute. Abdulhamid Diri delivered a long cross across the face of the goal and Garcia who had missed out earlier had an easy tap in.

The Khor defence didn’t spot Garcia’s run and the glaring error prompted coach Jean Fernandez to fling a bottle of water away in frustration.

In the second half Rayyan took their foot off the gas Al Khor were able to sneak in a second goal through Lee Young in the 52nd minute.

However it never looked like they could mount a credible comeback. Rayyan now have registered their fifth win in a row while Khor only have one draw against their name.

Meanwhile Al Arabi coach Gianfranco Zola said today’s match against Lekhwiya will one of the first three tough matches his team will face in the QSL campaign.

“This is a very important game for us. It’s the first of three tough matches for us. We play Lekhwiya Rayyan and then Sadd. It’s a good test. We have been working well as a unit so far and now we ill get a chance to see our level. Everybody has to understand that we are working to get to our highest level of football” said the Al Arabi trainer.

“Lekhwiya are on a different level as compared to us right now. But we want to be competitive. I welcome this game. If you ask me what I feel about this game I will tell you that it’s curiosity. We are playing the champions tomorrow and it will show us where we stand as a team” he added.

The QSL campaign is a long one and it is early days.

“This is a marathon not a race. There will be important games that we need to win. But whether we win or lose tomorrow that will be a lesson for my team. We need to get to the level of Lekhwiya or Sadd. That’s a work in progress for us. It’s an important match but it’s not the most important game of the season” said Zola.

Lekhwiya coach Djamel Belmadi too said that today’s match will highly competitive.

“Al Arabi have started well this season. They have lost only one game their last one against Gharafa and that too by a small margin. Like I have always said there are no easy games for me in this league. We have one more tough game now. We will focus on getting a good result out of this.”

The Peninsula