Jakarta Casual

As predicted ahead of the games there were three points all round for the Kuwait Premier League title challengers but while Qadsia were able to brush past Al Fahaheel  with teh relatively comfortable 3-1 margin their rivals made hard work of their opponents.

Kuwait SC must have thought Al Sahel were there to just roll over and die but they were much mistaken and the champions had to wait until the 69th minute to overcome their spirited opponents when Yassine Salhi, on loan from Moroccan side Raja Casablanca, broke the deadlock.

Al Salmiya had to wait even longer away to Al Shabab. The home side performed admirably and perhaps would have deserved a point but three minutes from the end Al Salmiya's giant striker who wears the 99 shirt did some fine work down the left and his cross was turned home by the onrushing Hamad Al Enezi much to the delight of the bench and the small number of travelling fans.

The win keeps them level on points with Qadsia but the team in yellow have a much superior goal difference.

In other games Khaitan kept their recent run going, holding out against Al Yarmouk for a 2-1 victory. Mubarak Al Nasser had given the away side the lead on seven minutes and Mohamed Al Enezi made it 2-0 early in the second half. Abdullah Dashti pulled one back just shy of the hour mark but Khaitan, despite coming under plenty of pressure held on for the three points.

Kazma failed to turn possession into goals and were almost made to pay the ultimate price as they travelled to Thamar Stadium to take on Al Sulaibikhat. Abdullah Dhofairi had given them the lead on 15 minutes but Kazma failed to build on that lead, missing two penalties and seeing the Al Sulaibikhat sent off. The sub keeper saved the second penalty with his first touch of the game and made two more crucial stops in teh dying embers of the first half to keep his side in contention and second half they more than held their own, deserving their equaliser by Adel Al Dwaihi on 69 minutes.

In last night's other game another of the struggling sides put on a good show. Al Nasr may have lost 3-0 against Al Jahra in another game at the Thamar Stadium but were beaten by two exquisite free kicks, the first by Faisal Zayed in teh first half. The game was pretty much over Rafael Simeone defelcted a team mate's shot home to make it 2-0 in the first minute of the second half and Tawandoba completed the scoring with another free kick over the wall.

Fair play to Al Nasr, they never stopped trying and in number 44 they had one of the best players on the pitch. I know I don't speak or read Arabic but when it comes to knowing player's names or who scored I am not at a disadvantage as there are no PA announcements before or during the game!