By Abdellatif Sharaa
KUWAIT: Three matches were played on Friday during the 12th round of Kuwait Football League (ranking stage). Though Sahel Sports Club showcased an acceptable performance during their match on Friday, Kuwait grabbed a narrow win 2-1. Kuwait's Tunisian player Ahmad Al-Akaishi scored his team's winning goal in the 33rd minute following a fast counter attack by Jumaa who was able to pass the ball to Akhaishi. Meanwhile, Sahel seemed to pay more attention to defense with few meaningless attempts on the goal. Sahel's Jasim Ateeq saw red in the 80th minute and Kuwait players were not able to take advantage of that.
In another match, Arabi Club reclaimed their winning ways as they beat Kheitan 3-0. Arabi's Essa Yacoubo scored the first goal in the 56th minute - then Al-Sanousi Al-Hadi scored a second goal in the 79th, after which Ahmad Al-Saleh scored a third towards the end of the match from the penalty spot. Kheitan suffered a setback after the referee gave defender Faisal Al-Enezi a red card in the 50th minute leaving Kheitan with 10 players. It was not long after that, when Essa Yacoubo scored with the help of Mohammad Zunaifer in the 56th minute. Al-Sanousi Al-Hadi doubled Arabi's score in the 78th minute.
The referee awarded Arabi with a penalty kick three minutes into added time which Ahmad Al-Saleh succeeded in converting it into a goal. In the third match, Kazma blew away Jahra with four unanswered goals and gained three points - raising their total to 22. This placed Kazma in third place as Jahra remained in ninth with 11 points.