Ahly's football director Sayed Abdel-Hafiz abandoned his customary restraint and launched a tirade against referee Mohamed Farouk after his side were held to a goalless draw by Masry in the Egyptian Premier League. The build-up to Friday's match in Port Said was marred by violent clashes between the supporters of both sides but the game itself was largely a trouble-free affair, apart from minor bottle-throwing incidents. Ahly paid for wasting several goal-scoring opportunities to share honours with Masry and miss out on the chance of closing the six-point gap with league leaders and arch-rivals Zamalek. “We were under immense pressure, first because of what happened before the match. Our bus was stoned and around 2,000 of our fans were forced to go home without justification,” former Ahly midfielder Abdel-Hafiz, who spoke to media instead of head coach Manuel Jose, told the club's Television channel. “The referee (Farouk) made a number of decisions against us because he was affected by pressure from the home fans. We should have had a penalty which could have changed the course of the game. “He stopped the game for only few minutes when Masry fans hurled many stones and bottles at Ahly's technical staff and players. “It seems that we should change the colour of our t-shirts to get our rights,” Abdel-Hafiz added sarcastically. Farouk denied that he was influenced by the home crowd, saying in a TV interview late on Friday that he had a ‘clear conscience'. The draw, which was the team's second stalemate following the return of Portuguese coach Jose in January, dented Ahly's hopes of winning a seventh consecutive league title. Zamalek, who are excelling under the guidance of Egypt's all-time leading scorer Hossam Hassan, look favourites to end a league drought stretching back to 2004.
