Ahly's coach Juan Garrido launched another scathing rant at refereeing after his side threw away a first-half lead to draw 1-1 at home to Petrojet on Tuesday, losing further ground in their bid to overtake arch-rivals Zamalek at the top of the Egyptian Premier League. Central defender Saad Samir netted a superb goal on the stroke of halftime to give Ahly the lead but Petrojet's Ethiopian midfielder Shimelis Bekele restored parity on 54 minutes on the second attempt after his initial spot-kick was saved by keeper Sherif Ekramy. Petrojet were awarded a penalty after defender Mohamed Naguib appeared to have stretched out a leg to strike an opponent in the thigh following a mis-timed tackle. "We lost many points because of refereeing decisions. Referees cost us wins against Ismaily, Assiouty Sport, Masry and against Petrojet tonight," Spanish coach Garrido, who led Ahly to the Egyptian Super Cup and African Confederation Cup titles after taking over in the summer, told the post-match news conference. "The penalty awarded to Petrojet is non-existent. I'm fed up of talking about referees all the time. It seems we will lose further points because of matters that are out of our hands." The Red Devils, who are seeking to equal their own record of winning the league title nine times in a row, squandered many chances throughout the match but looked vulnerable at the back, with Petrojet's few breakaways causing them troubles. However, despite being held to a 1-1 draw for the second straight game, Garrido was pleased with the way Ahly performed against Petrojet. "We played a very good match, and you can see how we dominated it. We are making a very good progress," the former Villarreal boss added. Ahly's draw leaves them fourth with 29 points, 11 behind Cairo foes Zamalek who are aiming to win the league title for the first time since 2004. The Red Devils, who still have two games in hand, can hardly afford to drop further points when they meet El-Geish in their next league game on Saturday, five days before their anticipated Cairo derby against Zamalek. (For more sports news andupdates, followAhramOnlineSports on Twitter at@AO_Sportsand onFacebookatAhramOnlineSports.) http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/120847.aspx
