The players of Qatar SC celebrate their win.
Qatar SC managed to hold on to their place in the QNB Stars League (QSL) as they won the play-off battle with Muaither SC 1-0 at the Al Duhail SC Stadium here yesterday.
Hussein Ali Al Saedi scored the match winner for Qatar SC in the 38th minute of the match.
Muaither SC, which finished second in the Second Division, were bidding to regain an entry into QSL for the third time, but all their efforts were neutralized by the Qatar SC defense.
The narrow win helped Sergio Batista’s side to retain to stay put in the top division, after having finished 11 in the just-concluded 2018-19 QSL season.
Hussein, scored the all important match winning goal connecting a cross from Jugurtha Hamroun to give Qatar SC the lead.
In the second half, Muaither tried to break open the rival defense but without any success.
Qatar SC went into the play-off after finishing one place above directly-relegated Al Kharaitiyat. The Kings finished on 16 points, one more than The Thunders.
Qatar SC could register only four wins from the 22 rounds of action. They drew four matches, but lost 14. To make matters worse, they lost 3-4 to Al Rayyan in the final round.
On the other hand, Muaither SC, founded in 1996, were targetting a place in the First Division for the third time in their history. They featured in the top flight in 2013-14 and 2016-17 seasons.
Muaither SC finished second behind Al Wakrah, who earned an automatic berth in the QNB Stars League, in this season’s Second Division.
Although Muaither SC and Al Markhiya were tied on points (27), the former made the play-off cut having had a better goal difference of +12 (30 goals for and 18 against), compared to the latter’s +8 (21 goals for and 13 against).
This season’s Second Division was played in a triple round-robin format with each of the six teams playing five games. Mesaimeer, Al Shamal and Al Bidda were the other sides in that order in the final standings.
