Ahly dropped the first points of their league campaign after playing out a goalless Egyptian League draw with a resilient Petrojet side away from home at Suez's Army Stadium on Tuesday. Going into the game with five wins out of five, Hossam El-Badry's men surely have wished to extend their winning streak to six matches as they bid to defend their league title. Ahly, however, paid the price of wasting a host of clear-cut chances in the first half, before the petroleum side came close to upsetting the league leaders late into stoppage time. The scoreless draw is the first ever between Ahly and Petrojet, who made their top-flight debut in 2006. The Cairo giants remain at the top of the table with 16 points, four ahead of second-placed Smouha who face Zamalek on Thursday. Ahly miss, Petrojet come close late Ahly were the dominant side in the first half, and it was just two minutes into the opening period when Moemen Zakareya broke clear before missing the target. Three minutes later, holding midfielder Hossam Ashour saw another strike from outside the area collected by the keeper as Ahly signaled their intent to score from the outset. The lively Zakareya, again, struck wide after latching onto a through-ball from right-back Ahmed Fathi with the former causing problems with his trademark off-the-ball runs. Junior Ajayi, who has been deployed as lone striker upfront, was then denied by keeper Ali Farag from point-blank range one minute from the half-hour mark, when center-back Mohamed Naguib directed the ball towards the Nigerian following a free kick. And with six minutes remaining till half-time, midfielder Amr El-Sulaya was unlucky to see a header bounce off the post following a cross from left-back Sabri Rahil. The Reds remained dominant after the break, but unlike the first half, they were only restricted to only half-chances. Petrojet, on the other side, came close to causing an upset in the dying minutes of the game when Ahly looked to have run out of gas after piling up pressure on the home side for long. Ethiopia forward Shemiles Bekele was the one culpable in the second minute of stoppage time when he went through on goal before keeper Sherif Ekramy – who was barely called into action throughout – foiled the striker. Bekele could have turned provider in the seventh minute of injury time when he played in Mohamed Ramadan inside the area but again keeper Ekramy was there to ensure a clean sheet. (For more sports news and updates, follow Ahram Online Sports on Twitter at @AO_Sports and on Facebook at AhramOnlineSports.)
