Olunga on target as Al Duhail SC defeat Al Rayyan to stay second

Kenya international Michael Olunga continued with his goal-scoring form in the Qatar Stars League after he scored in a 3-0 win against Al Rayyan at Thani Bin Jassim Stadium (Al-Gharafah Stadium) on Sunday.

In the match they dominated in both halves, Duhail took the lead in the third minute when Edmilson Junior converted from the penalty spot before Almoez Ali also scored from the spot to make it 2-0 in the 40th minute.

The towering Olunga, who had twice rattled the woodwork, then wrapped up the win after slotting past Rayyan goalkeeper Fahad Younes in the 55th minute.

It was Duhail who started the game on a high note and after being fouled by Dame Traore, Junior dusted himself off and took the penalty, sending Younes the wrong way for the opener.

Duhail then waited until five minutes to the half-time break when Ali also stepped up to convert another penalty which hit the upright before dropping into the net for a 2-0 lead at the interval.

Olunga then sealed the game 10 minutes into the second half after dribbling past Rayyan defenders before letting go of a left-footed effort that goalkeeper Younes could not stop for the 3-0 win.

The 27-year-old Olunga has now scored eight goals since the season kicked off from three appearances and raked in 224 minutes.

During the season opener against Al Khor, Olunga scored two goals, before he scored five goals against Al Sailiya and then again against Rayyan on Sunday.

In a recent interview, Olunga said his mission is to help Duhail win matches by scoring and setting up goals.

“I work on helping my team either by scoring or passing to my teammates to score, and everyone is working to achieve maximum points from each game,” Olunga said as quoted by the club’s official website.

“As a striker, I have to work to score goals and I will do my best to help the team, and scoring in Al Sailiya gave me the motivation to continue making the fans happy.

“The club trust in my abilities and contracted with me, and in the beginning when I came to Qatar I succeeded in presenting good matches in the Champions League, and in the league, the two matches that I have played were good for me and I succeeded in scoring.

“Participating with the national team is different from participating with the clubs and the strategy in the club is different from the national team and we have to focus on the international participation.”

Duhail are second on the table with 15 points from five matches, three behind leaders Al Sadd.

Olunga’s next match will be against Al-Wakrah at Al Wakrah Sports Complex Stadium on Thursday.