Al-Qadsiah revive Al Ahli’s unwanted Roshn Saudi League record

Al-Qadsiah recreated an unwanted piece of Al Ahli’s history on Tuesday by taking a 3-0 half-time lead over their opponents in the Roshn Saudi League.

Al Ahli travelled to face Al-Qadsiah at Prince Mohammed bin Fahd Stadium in Dammam in the sixth round of this season’s competition. However, they found themselves three goals behind at the interval after a dominant opening half from the home side.

Dutch midfielder Tijjani Reijnders scored twice for Al-Qadsiah, while right-back Mohammed Abu Al Shamat added the third goal to give his team a commanding advantage before the break.

The scoreline also placed the match in the context of a rare record for Al Ahli during the professional era of the Saudi top flight. According to Opta statistics, this was only the fourth time Al Ahli had ended the first half three goals behind since the start of professional football in the league in the 2008-09 season.

Al-Hilal were the previous team to achieve that feat. During the 2023-24 Roshn Saudi League campaign, they led Al Ahli 3-0 at half-time in the third round of matches.

Al Ahli, known by their nickname ‘Al-Raqi’, responded strongly on that occasion and recovered to draw 3-3 before the final whistle. The source account does not state the eventual outcome of Tuesday’s match, with the significance of the record referring specifically to the half-time score.

Before Al-Qadsiah, only Al-Hilal, Al-Raed and Al-Taawoun had previously established a three-goal half-time lead against Al Ahli in the history of the Roshn Saudi League’s professional era. Al-Qadsiah therefore became the fourth club to do so.

The first-half performance also underlined Al-Qadsiah’s record when building a lead of at least three goals before the interval. The club had won all seven of their previous league matches in which they held that advantage at half-time.

That sequence gives Al-Qadsiah a perfect record in those circumstances, although Tuesday’s match still had a full second half to be played when the statistical milestone was recorded.

The meeting was one of the headline fixtures in the sixth round of the Saudi league season, with Al Ahli facing a significant challenge after conceding three times before the interval. Reijnders’ two goals and Abu Al Shamat’s strike left Al-Qadsiah within sight of extending that winning sequence, while Al Ahli needed a dramatic response to avoid suffering another heavy half-time deficit in the competition.