Sitra stun Khaldiya in King’s Cup

TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Sitra stunned holders Al Khaldiya last night to make it through to the quarter-finals of this season’s His Majesty the King’s Cup football tournament.

Sitra needed to go the distance to book their seats in a 4-2 penalty shootout win against their heavily favoured rivals.

Manama, meanwhile, joined Sitra in the last eight after defeating Bahrain Club 2-0 to advance.

Both victors now move on to face each other in the quarters.

They are the fifth and sixth squads to qualify for this stage, following in the footsteps of league champions Riffa, Muharraq, Al Najma and Al Ahli.

The final two spots will be decided tonight when Al Hala face Tadhamon and East Riffa take on Hidd. The quarter-finals have yet to be scheduled by the Bahrain Football Association.

In Sitra’s win last night, both teams had chances to find the net during regular time but the 90 minutes ended goalless.

That sent the match directly into penalties, and Sitra were dominant from the start.

Bahrain international striker Ismaeel Abdullatif kicked off the shootout with an uncharacteristic miss as his effort bounced off the left post.

Sitra’s Seydina Laye Dabo then took advantage, sending Khaldiya’s Sayed Shubbar Alawi the wrong way.

Khaldiya’s Samy Frioui’s attempt was then saved by Sitra’s substitute goalkeeper Godwill Chia Ndang, and then Ebrahim Ahmed Habib made it 2-0 for his team.

Penalties from Sayed Dhiya Saeed and Sayed Qassim Alawi kept Sitra in full control, and then Mahdi Humaidan reduced Khaldiya’s deficit to 2-3 with his effort.

That set the stage for the winner for Mishal Mohammed with one round of attempts still remaining.

Mohammed made no mistake, sending the ball into the bottom-left corner of the net past Alawi.

In Manama’s triumph, Mahdi Abduljabbar opened the scoring in the 64th minute with a short stab just a metre from goal.

Abduljabbar was on the receiving end of a cross from the left of the box and he simply guided the ball into the net.

Manama then sealed the victory in the fifth minute of second-half stoppage time with a brilliant counter-attack that ended with Syrian Mohammed Al Hallaq scoring following a fine one-two with Ali Habib.

Tonight’s concluding round of 16 matches are both scheduled to kick off at 6pm at separate venues.