A lackluster Ahly side pulled off a 3-0 victory over rock bottom Ragaa in the Egyptian Premier League Thursday. Putting in a substandard performance, Ahly had to wait until the 75thminute for an opening, followed by goals from Abdallah El-Saied, Amr Gamal and Ahmed Fathi earning the Reds all three points after difficult moments in the game. Despite the win, which followed an emphatic 4-1 victory over Maqassa last weekend, the Reds still remain second of Group A — three points adrift of leaders Smouha who also won earlier in the day. Ahly only need to secure a top-two finish to claim a place in the final mini league, whose winner clinches the league title. Dreary first half, unlucky Ragaa Ahly were lucky to head into the dressing rooms not trailing after Ragaa were close to stunning the African champions after an insipid 21 minutes. Islam Fouad should have been awarded a spot kick after being brought down by Ahly keeper Sherif Ekramy who rushed out of goal to thwart the clear-on-goal forward. The ball then fell to Mohamed Saied who was also unfortunate to see his effort on the rebound agonisingly denied by the crossbar. Late three goals The second half didn't seem any better than the first with Ahly hardly showing the spark needed to threaten the minnows' goal early after the break. Ragaa forward Mamadou Keita could have shocked the Reds early on, pouncing on a Mohamed Naguib blunder before being thwarted by Ekramy who blocked the Malian looping effort. Ahly gradually began to redeem themselves and five minutes later, Fathi saw a curling free kick flow wide before young striker Gamal hit the sky when he could have done much better. After a blasting a free kick high, El-Saied began testing keeper Ahmed Khattab, who was vigilant to block a fierce drive from the forward on 65 minutes. But El-Saied did not fail on his next attempt, turning with the ball before unleashing a powerful strike from long range, with the keeper sharing responsibility for the goal conceded. Gamal got his name on the score sheet seven minutes later when he headed home a pin-point cross by Moussa Yedan to take his tally to five goals this season. El-Saied then turned from scorer to provider to set up right-back Fathi, who superbly controlled the ball while cutting inside the area before hitting a left-footed strike to complete the rout. (For moresports news andupdates,followAhramOnline Sportson Twitter at@AO_Sportsand on Facebook atAhramOnlineSports.) http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/98773.aspx
