Kuwait SC’s plans were disrupted by an early injury to Meshari Al Enezi, prompting Al Khatib to replace the defender with Ahmad Al Dhefiri in the 17th minute.

Less than a minute later, the visitors threatened when Domagoj Drozdek found himself with time and space inside the Kuwait penalty area but his shot was straight at goalkeeper Saud Al Hoshan, who palmed the ball into the air before collecting.

Neither side seriously threatened with Taha Khenissi shooting across the face of the Al Khaldiya goal and Al Harbi sending an attempt over the bar the closest either side would come to testing the goalkeeper until the first minute of stoppage time.

That was when Kuwait SC took the lead after Mohamad Daham prowled down the right flank before cutting inside onto his left foot to curl his cross towards Al Harbi, who gave the ball the deftest of flicks with his forehead to send it spinning beyond Ricardo Silva.

Al Khaldiya were inches away from levelling in the 54th minute when Drozdek shot from the edge of the area, the Croatian seeing his attempt bounce back off the post with Mahdi Al Humaidan failing to net the rebound.

With 25 minutes to go Kuwait SC doubled their advantage from the penalty spot. Walid Sabbar slid in on Abdullah Al Qarzaei, mistiming his challenge on the substitute to earn a booking and concede a penalty from which Al Sulaiman calmly slotted home.

Daham should have hit a third for the home side in the 78th minute when he was presented with an opportunity from eight yards out but Hazaa Ali cleared off the line.

And two minutes later Al Khaldiya halved the deficit as Rachid Boumessous’ cross took a deflection off the head of Gleison and the ball looped into the air to beat Al Houshan.

Al Khaldiya pushed for an equaliser in the dying moments, with Gleison hitting the post in stoppage time, but Al Sulaiman put the result beyond doubt at the end of a counterattack in the sixth minute of stoppage time.