Spirited Ahli hold Gharafa, Shamal beat Sailiya

Al Gharafa (in yellow) and Al Ahli players vie for the ball at the Hamad Bin Khalifa Stadium yesterday. PICTURE: Shemeer Rasheed

Top-four contenders Al Gharafa were held to a goalless draw by Al Ahli in the QNB Stars League at the Hamad Bin Khalifa Stadium yesterday. The spirited fight against third-placed Al Gharafa raised Al Ahli’s points tally to 13 as they stay seventh, while the Cheetahs added a point to their total which now stands at 23.The match witnessed a series of missed opportunities from both teams, and despite many attempts to score, the two goalkeepers, Yazan Naim and Youssef Hassan, held their guard.Al Gharafa almost scored an early goal in the 13th minute when a brilliant shot from captain Othman al-Yahri. Sofiane Hanni also took a shot at the goal after picking on a rebound, but failed to beat al-Yahri as the first half ended with a goalless tie.The second half witnessed a goal cancelled for Gharafa in the 56th minute after Abdalla Yousif was called off side. The hunt for the opening goal continued as Gharafa taking a more attacking approach while Ahli relied on rapid counter-attacks.Hanni once again tried his luck with a header, this time going after a pass from al-Yahri, but once again Naim came to the rescue of Al Ahli.  Substitute Abdulrahman Al Harazi almost made it 1-0 in favour of Al Ahli but brilliant work from  Hassan saw the ball flying over the bar to disappoint the hosts.Earlier, in the opening match of the day, Al Shamal achieved a valuable 2-0 victory over bottom-placed Al Sailiya at the Suhaim bin Hamad Stadium in Qatar Club. Jason Escobar scored both goals for the winners in the 49th and 79th minutes. Al Shamal raised their points tally to 12 points and are ninth while Al Sailiya remain bottom with five points after yesterday’s loss, which was their 10th this season. It was the third victory for Al Shamal.