Ahly struck deep into stoppage time to beat a resilient Talae El-Geish side 2-1 and move a step closer towards the Egyptian league title following a dramatic game at the Army Stadium in Suez on Thursday. Egypt playmaker Abdallah El-Said gave Ahly the lead from the spot midway through the first-half before Moatamed Mohsen drew level in the 57th minute. The defending champions, however, managed to come up with all three points when substitute Mido Gaber saw a strike from inside the area take a lucky deflection that evaded the keeper in the last minute of a five-minute stoppage-time. The Reds, who now restored their eight-point lead over rivals and second-placed Maqassa, missed manager Hossam El-Badry on the touchline as he served the first of a two-game suspension. More important was the absence of holding midfielder Hossam Ashour, who also happens to serve a four-match ban after being sent off by the ref following the 1-1 draw with El-Entag El-Harby, with Ahly's midfield easily penetrated by Geish on several occasions. The win cemented Ahly's position on top of the league with 71 points. Talae El-Geish are 10th on 35. Geish dominate early stages After a strong spell of pressure from Geish, who won a succession of fouls near the penalty box, it was the visitors who managed to take the lead, that somewhat seemed against the run of play. A clever through-ball from Egypt playmaker El-Said was run onto by winger Walid Soliman, who intelligently targeted the space vacated in Geish's defense before being tripped by defender Essam Sobhi. El-Said made no mistake from 12 yards, sending the keeper the wrong way to give his side the lead after being forced into their own half for nearly 20 minutes. Ahly strike at death Just seven minutes after the break the hosts leveled the scoring through Mohsen when he beat Amr El-Sulaya in the air to head past keeper Sherif Ekramy following a diagonal cross from the left. Striker Souleymane Coulibaly could have restored his side's lead just three minutes later when he broke clear after racing onto El-Sulaya's through ball only to hit wide of the post. Just a minute later, the military side almost scored their second of the night when forward Mohamed Ashraf was denied by the woodwork following some shambolic defending from the Cairo giants. But it wasn't the end of Geish's dangerous chances though, with striker Amr Osman penetrating so easily through Ahly's midfield and defense before seeing his eventual effort easily saved by keeper Ekramy. With Geish looking to defend deep in an attempt to avoid defeat, Ahly continued to dictate play, wasting a handful of half-chances, with Coulibaly particularly culpable on several occasions. But the most dangerous of chances belonged to center-back Mohamed Naguib when he dragged a shot wide of the post from inside the area when it seemed so easy to score just three minutes from time. Winger Gaber, however, made sure Ahly came up with all three points when his low shot from inside the area took a deflection as the ball wrong-footed the keeper to spark wild celebrations from the Ahly dugout. (For more sports news and updates, follow Ahram Online Sports on Twitter at @AO_Sports and on Facebook at AhramOnlineSports.)
