Zamalek moved to another stadium in the hope of getting better results. Mohamed El-Sayed reports The challengers for the title -- Zamalek, Ahli and Ismaili -- scored convincing wins over their opposition in week 17 of the football league. In Cairo, defending champions Zamalek kept their lead at the top of the table with 45 points, edging neighbours Tersana 2-0. The win kept intact the eight-point difference between Zamalek and second place Ahli. "I don't care about the quality of our performance at this stage of the tournament," said Vingada, Zamalek's head coach. "All I want are the three points that come with every match so that we can repeat as champions." Tarek El-Sayed hit the opener in the 28th minute before Abdel-Halim Ali scored the second goal, his league- leading 10th this season. Team captain Hazem Imam failed to increase the lead, wasting a penalty kick seven minutes before time. Zamalek had moved their act from the Arab Contractors Stadium to the Military Academy Stadium, claiming the former "does not fit our style of play". The club, whose normal grounds, Cairo Stadium, is temporarily closed for refurbishment, is hiring the military stadium for LE25,000 a match. In Ismailia, the Dervishes gave one of their better performances this year, hammering third place Ittihad of Alexandria 4-1. Providing full value and high- quality football, the relatively young team inundated Nader El-Sayed's goal via Ahmed El-Gamal, Mohamed Abdel- Sattar, Hosni Abd-Rabbou and Ahmed Fathi. Ex-Ahli striker Mohamed Fadl hit a consolation 10 minutes before time. Coach Theo Bucker attributed the victory to "the fighting spirit and creativity which are our weapons in the coming matches". Solana, Bucker's Lebanese wife and translator, was extremely happy with the praise heaped on her husband by the club's fans. Ismaili are now in fourth place with 31 points and have a game against Ghazl Al-Mehalla in hand. The Alexandrian team remain third with 32 points. Despite the point spread, Ahli seem determined to fight for the title to the last. They avenged their loss to the oil company -- which tripped them up for the title on the last day of the season last year -- beating them on Monday 2-0. It was the eighth league victory for the Reds since coach Manuel Jose assumed responsibility at the beginning of this year. Supporters cheered several times for Khaled Bibo who played perhaps his best game in two years. "The referee gave our players [six] yellow cards as if he was giving away chocolate bars," Enppi's head coach Taha Bisri complained. "We beat Ahli twice before but this time they deserved to win. But the problem lies with the refereeing," he added. Ahli have now climbed to second place with 37 points and are hoping that history will repeat itself as they try to catch Zamalek as happened more than once in past seasons. In other matches, Misri of Port Said were dealt a humiliating 5-1 defeat at the hands of Baladiyet Al-Mehalla. On their return to the free zone city, the players and the coaching staff were welcomed with stones and insults. Aswan upset the Coastal Guards 3-2, Ghazl Al-Mehalla defeated the almost certainly relegated Koroum 1-0 and Mansoura beat Qanah 1-0.
