Ahli broke a local league record and remained atop the football table. Abeer Anwar reports on the achievements Ahli entered their league clash on Friday with surprise package Ennpi hoping to break a record for most consecutive victories. They did, but just barely. Zamalek stayed a close second by getting by the defending champions Ismaili for a crucial away victory. Ahli came back from a one-goal deficit to earn a 2-1 win over newly-promoted Ennpi. The victory solidified their league lead and perhaps just as important, it was Ahli's 12th win in a row, a new league record. During the stretch the squad picked up a maximum 36 points. Standing in the way of Ahli's unprecedented achievement was Ennpi, third in the table. The oil company club jumped to an early start, scoring first after just five minutes following a pass gone all wrong in the penalty area by usual stalwart defender Hadi Khashaba. The ball was intercepted by Magdi Abdel-Ati, the league's second top goalscorer, who did not hesitate in burying the ball past Essam El-Hadari. Ahli almost conceded a second goal when El-Hadari attempted to fake a striker in the area. The keeper fumbled the ball which was picked up by Sayed Abdel-Naeem. Abdel- Naeem rounded El-Hadari and chipped the ball over him but Khashaba made up for his earlier fumble by heading the ball off the goal-line. Gouda scored from a penalty in the second half after the ball was handled in the area to tie the game and Ahmed Bilal did the rest, scoring the winner, his league-leading 15th goal, after latching on to a header from Hossam Ghali and blasting the ball in on a volley. Thanks to a brace by Abdel-Halim Ali, Zamalek got past defending champions Ismaili 3-1 to pick up three valuable points on the road. Ali struck after just 39 seconds when he got a step ahead of Amr Fahim to stab the ball home with an outstretched right leg. Abdel-Hamid Bassiouni and Mohamed Mohsen Abu- Greisha took turns wasting valuable opportunities in front of goal. The misses would cost their club dearly. Gamal Hamza's pass to Hazem Emam in front of goal gave Emam an easy goal to double the score. However, the two-goal lead was cut to one when Bassiouni's direct kick nicked the left goal post and bounced in two minutes before the half. Ismaili's Attia Saber picked up a red card, in the second half, placing his club in an even more uphill struggle. Ali cemented the Zamalek win by pushing the ball into an empty net seconds before the whistle as almost the entire Ismaili team was caught upfield in search of the equaliser The win pushed Zamalek up to second place with 24 points, 11 behind leaders Ahli but with two matches in hand. In other games, Ghazl Al-Mehalla and Tersana tied 1-1 to remain far from vying for first place but safe from relegation. Alexandria celebrated its club's first victory of the season as Ittihad edged Misri 2-1. Misri's Hani Kamel's goal in the 12th minute looked set to add to Ittihad's misery but the home side pulled off a superb comeback when Tcherno Mansari and Wakeel Salam scored in the 55th and 77th minute respectively. Goldi levelled with Ittihad at only six points after defeating Aswan 3-0 to pick up their second victory from 13 matches, among which have been 10 defeats. Ahmed Koshari's double helped his comeback bid to the starting lineup in the 4th minute and the 64th minute while Arafa Abbas got the job done in the 74th minute. Haras Al-Hoddoud, another league newcomer, defeated home side Mansoura 2-1 with an 84th minute winner by Abdel-Latif El-Domani. Baladiyet Al-Mehalla escaped Al-Gabal Al-Akhdar with a point from the Arab Contractors following a 1-1 draw.
