Al Ahly continued to take advantage of the failures of their fellow Egyptian Premier League contenders, boosting their lead at the top of the table to five points following Thursday’s 2-0 road victory over ENPPI at the Petro Sport Stadium in Cairo. The hosts provided a challenge to the league leaders in an even first half but after the halftime break, Ahly found their scoring touch.
Close to the hour mark creative midfielder Amr El Solia’s pass sent Mohamed Magdy “Afsha” in behind the ENPPI defense for the attacker to go around goalkeeper Abdelaziz El Balouty before rolling his finish into an empty net. Afsha’s opening goal set the stage for Malian midfielder Aliou Dieng’s excellent strike to clinch the three points for Ahly. Dieng powerfully drove past four ENPPI defenders on a dribbling run from the midfield and finished high over El Balouty who was done no favors by his defense.
Ahly supporters could relax and watch hated rivals Zamalek in the late match, a disappointing 1-1 home draw for the defending champions against newly promoted El Dakhleya. The visitors stunned the home crowd in the 25th minute after Ahmed Abdel Naby’s through pass found Samir Fekri for a finish past Zamalek keeper Mohamed Awad. Fekri’s goal was initially ruled offsides when the assistant referee ruled that forward Rasheed Ahmed interfered with the play but the Video Assistant Referee judged that Ahmed did not impact the play and the goal was awarded.
Zamalek pushed and pushed with eleven shot attempts in the second half compared to zero for Dakhleya but goalkeeper Reda El Sayed and his defense made things difficult for a wasteful Zamalek attack. A wave of opportunities for the hosts were unsuccessful until the final minutes of second half stoppage time when center back Mohamed Abdel Ghani sent a perfect header past El Sayed from a Zizo corner kick. The supporters were relieved their team avoided an embarrassing defeat to relegation-threatened Dakhleya but Zamalek manager Jesualdo Ferreira has plenty of issues to solve as his team continues to struggle.
Video of all the goals from Thursday are below following the scores as well as the goals from Wednesday’s lone matchup, a 1-1 draw between Pharco FC and El Gaish.
Scores
Pharco FC 1-1 El Gaish
ENPPI 0-2 Al Ahly
Zamalek 1-1 El Dakhleya
Highlights
ENPPI 0-2 Al Ahly
Zamalek 1-1 El Dakhleya
Pharco FC 1-1 El Gaish
