Ahly were hardly affected by the sudden departure of coach Jose Peseiro, with a first-half free kick from Abdallah El-Saied proving enough in a convincing 1-0 victory over bitter rivals Ismaily in the Egyptian Premier League on Wednesday. The 30-year-old arrowed the set-piece into the top corner just before halftime to haunt his former club and give caretaker coach Abdel-Aziz Abdel-Shafi 'Zizo', who led Ahly to a 3-2 victory over Cairo rivals Zamalek in the Egyptian Super Cup in October when he was also in charge on an interim basis, a winning start. Peseiro, who was unpopular with Ahly's demanding fans after the team lost twice and drew as many games in eight matches under his guidance, abruptly stepped down on Monday to take over at Portuguese giants Porto in his homeland. Reports are linking Ahly with a host of managers, including Frenchman Herve Renard, winner of the Nations Cup with Zambia and Ivory Coast in 2012 and 2015 respectively, and their former boss Hossam El-Badri. But it was important for Ahly's players to pull their socks up and overcome Ismaily, who always prove tough opposition despite their struggles in the league this season, given the long-standing rivalry between both clubs. The victory helped Ahly move top with 29 points, although Zamalek (27 points) will regain their place at the summit if they beat Masry later in the day. Ismaily are 11th in the 18-team table on 18 points. Perfect role El-Saied's role as a deep-lying playmaker seemed to have perfectly suited him, with his neat distribution of the ball causing constant menace to Ismaily's porous defence, which had leaked 13 goals in 12 matches before the Ahly clash. Zizo played with a two-pronged attack comprising of Amr Gamal and John Antwi, but it was the Ghanaian striker, who was snubbed by Peseiro, who linked up well with attacking midfielders Ramadan Sobhi and El-Saied in the first half as Ahly took a firm grip on the game. El-Saied cut inside his marker after 16 minutes and hit a low shot into the side netting and almost set up Sobhi for the opener seven minutes later in superb fashion. A pass from skipper Hossam Ghaly was brilliantly flicked by El-Saied to the unmarked Sobhi, who beat the offside trap but sent his first-timer just over the crossbar with the goal at his mercy. A cut-back from Sobhi after he had eluded his challenger found Gamal but his low shot from eight yards out went just wide as Ahly launched a wave after wave of attacks, which finally resulted in the opener on the stroke of halftime. El-Saied arrowed a free kick into the top corner, with goalkeeper Mohamed Sobhi rooted the spot, to give Ahly a deserved lead following some relentless pressure. Ismaily relatively improved after the break but still found it difficult to carve out openings while Ahly were forced to make two unscripted substitutions after Ghaly and left-back Sabri Rahil were replaced after picking up injuries. Apart from a header from Ismaily striker Marwan Mohsen that went wide on 56 minutes, Ahly were comfortable at the back and they could have even doubled their lead with 12 minutes remaining but Antwi's mis-hit shot following a Sobhi centre went astonishingly wide. (For more sports news andupdates, followAhramOnlineSportson Twitter at@AO_Sportsand onFacebookatAhramOnlineSports.) http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/183510.aspx
