Ahly end turbulent week with 3-1 Egyptian league win over Aswan

Ahly make up for last week's frustrating scoreless stalemate with Wadi Degla and make light of administrative instability to convincingly beat Aswan 3-1 on Tuesday

Moemen Zakareya bagged a brace as Ahly ended a turbulent week off the pitch on a high after beating Aswan 3-1 at Alexandria's Borg El-Arab Stadium in the Egyptian league on Tuesday.
Zakareya opened the scoring inside the first 15 minutes but Aswan striker Shoukri Naguib restored parity three minutes past the half-hour mark.
The Ahly winger then headed the second on the stroke of halftime and Gabon striker Malick Evouna ensured victory with a second-half goal as the Red Devils outclassed their lowly opponents.
Ahly were under pressure to deliver after a frustrating goalless draw by Wadi Degla last week and a surprising court ruling to dissolve the club's board on Sunday due to "procedural errors" in the elections.
The ruling was provisionally suspended pending appeal, giving some respite to under-fire chairman Mahmoud Taher, and Ahly also claimed only their second win in their last five matches, a poor run by the standards of Egypt and Africa's most successful side.
They climbed to sixth place on 16 points – six behind leaders Maqassa who played three games more.
Zakareya brace
The first period began with the visitors, as expected, sitting back inside their own half - giving the Ahly center-backs all time on the ball.
But Ahly did not find it difficult to carve out openings, and it was just 13 minutes on the clock when Zakareya, deployed as a wide forward, put his side in front.
Right-back Mohamed Hani collected Hossam Ghaly's pass down the right, before squaring the ball for Zakareya - who smashed the ball into the net from inside the area.
Evouna could have made it two shortly afterwards when he missed a one-on-one chance after dithering on the ball in what seemed to be a certain goal.
After Walid Soliman had seen a strike narrowly miss the target, the visitors surprised everyone with what seemed to be an unlikely equaliser through striker Naguib on 33 minutes.
Naguib latched onto a long through-ball as he targeted the space between Hani and center-back Mohamed Naguib, who was bamboozled by the Aswan forward before the latter found the far low corner of the net.
But it seemed that Ahly were determined not to enter the dressing room on level terms with their lowly opponents, with Zakareya restoring his side's advantage on the stroke of half-time.
The assist came from the right again, but this time from winger Soliman who played a terrific cross for Zakareya to head home past the keeper.
Evouna ensures win
Shortly after the break, the on-fire Zakareya could have completed a hat-trick when he saw an excellent right-footed strike go wide of the post after cutting inside from the left.
Two minutes later, Evouna was unlucky to hit the woodwork after connecting with a cross from left-back Hussein El-Sayed.
But El-Sayed could have cost his side dearly in the 63nd minute when he failed to clear a ball inside the box, as Aswan's Naguib struck first time only to see his effort miss the target by inches.
And it was just five minutes after that miss when Evouna scored Ahly's third, after a fine team-move saw Zakareya set up the Gabon striker with a backheel.
The summer-signing then superbly tricked a defender before firing past the keeper to score Ahly's best goal of the night.
The following minutes then saw substitute Abdallah El-Saied miss the target twice, before a superb team move featuring Ghaly, Ramadan Sobhi and Zakareya could have resulted in a fourth goal but the Aswan defense cleared the danger.
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