Ismaili turned Ittihad coach Mohamed Amer's debut sour on Thursday with a 3-1 victory in the Egyptian Premier League that was inspired by Abdullah Saied's blistering free kicks. Ittihad were hoping to get off to a winning start under Amer after sacking Brazilian coach Carlos Cabral earlier this week but were undone by two superb free kicks from playmaker Saied. They failed to bag their first home win this season to slip into the relegation zone, much to the dismay of their enthusiastic supporters who lifted a banner calling on the players 'to save the club's history'. Ismaili continued their recent revival, having beaten bitter foes Ahli 3-1 in their previous match to lift some pressure off Dutch coach Mark Wotte. The Dervishes leapfrogged Ahli into second place with 19 points from 11 games, although the defending champions (18) still have two games in hand. Zamalek, who last won the premier domestic competition in 2004, top the table with 24 points. Ghanaian burly striker Kwabena Yaro notched his second hat-trick of the season to give Military Production a 3-2 home victory over Petrojet. Gaish heaped more misery on Arab Contractors, who lie second from bottom in the table, with a 2-1 win.
Otobong goal not enough for Ittihad A brace from midfielder Amer Sabri helped the army club move four points clear of the danger zone. Impressive Saied Striker Ahmed Ali put Ismaili in front after 17 minutes with an easy tap in after Ittihad's off-form keeper Al-Hani Soliman could only parry a header into his path. Ittihad's Cameroonian frontman Edet Otobong equalized three minutes after the restart with a close-range shot to take his tally to six league goals. The 24-year-old, who joined the Alexandria club in the summer, is one goal short of the competition's top scorer Ahmed Abdul-Zaher of ENPPI. Impressive playmaker Saied unsettled Ittihad's defense with his skills and was rewarded in the 56th minute to restore Ismaili's advantage. He arrowed a free kick into the top corner of the net with his right foot and a carbon copy of that goal wrapped up Ismaili's win in stoppage time.
