With five matches remaining, Ahmed Morsy sees whether Ahli can hold on to first place until the end Only five games remain before the end of the Egyptian domestic football league and Ahli remain on top of the table with 51 points, three ahead of second-placed Ismaili, who have played one game more. In matches played last week, Ahli overcame Egypt Telecom 2-1, Ismaili defeated Spinning Mehalla 2-0 and Zamalek drew 1-1 with the Arab Contractors. Petrojet edged Ittihad 1-0 in Suez and Misri were defeated 1-0 by Haras Al-Hedoud. Substitutes Sayed Moawad and Osama Hosni combined to help Ahli defeat Egypt Telecom on Thursday and close in on a fifth consecutive league title. Ahli needed only two minutes to take the lead as they looked on course for a comfortable win. Amado Flavio, who played as a lone striker, threaded a pass through for midfielder Mohamed Barakat whose low shot deflected off a defender's legs to go over Amir Tawfik's head and into the net. The pacey runs of energetic midfielder Wa'el Riad caused Ahli's three-man defence all sorts of problems. Consequently, Egypt Telecom's attacking efforts paid dividends in the 24th minute as midfielder Sherif Omar scored his second goal of the season to restore parity. Defender Mohamed Samir, who deputised for the suspended Ahmed El-Sayed, poorly cleared a Riad cross and Omar pounced to send a half-volley past Palestinian keeper Ramzi Saleh. In the second half, Ahli coach Manuel Jose introduced Moawad instead of the out-of-form Gilberto and replaced star playmaker Mohamed Abu Treika, who wasn't at his best, with Hosni. In the 73rd minute, Hosni rose above his marker to head home Moawad's left-wing cross from close range to give his side the lead again. Telecom pushed forward in search of the equaliser but their efforts went in vain as Ahli secured a third successive win. Telecom Egypt assistant coach Moetemed Gamal criticised Ahli fans following his side's defeat. "Ahli supporters kept insulting us throughout the game," Gamal told the post-match conference. "They targeted (Telecom head coach) Hossam Hassan, who did not deserve to be insulted by the fans of his old team." "Such actions made us nervous and affected our concentration tonight." Third from bottom Egypt Telecom, who claimed their first win under Hassan when they beat Olympic 2-0 last week, missed out on the chance to lessen their relegation fears. They would have leapfrogged Petroleum Assiout, who are in the safety zone and have a two-point advantage over them, if they had overcome Ahli. "We will do our best to remain in the top flight," Gamal added. Despite the win, Ahli assistant coach Hossam El-Badri remained cautious. "A league triumph is not guaranteed yet," Manuel Jose's assistant told the post-match press conference. "We can stretch our lead to six points if we win our game in hand but it is still too early to say that we are champions." "The substitutes made the difference tonight," El-Badri added with a smile on his face. "Moawad in particular played very well after his introduction and his assist led us to victory." Ahli are due to meet Kano Pillars of Nigeria in the round of 16 of the CAF Champions League on Saturday while the second-leg is scheduled for 2 May. They will clash with arch- rivals Zamalek in the league on 23 April in an encounter postponed from the 25th week. Elsewhere, Zamalek drew 1-1 with Arab Contractors on Wednesday. Ahmed Zahran stunned Zamalek with a 30th minute opener before Mahmoud Fathalla's header leveled the score on 45 minutes. Zamalek remain seventh in the table with 34 points, while the Contractors are 11th with 29. Contractors coach Mohamed Radwan believes his team could have defeated Zamalek if it wasn't for the heroics of Abdel-Wahed El-Sayed, the in-form goalie who prevented the hosts from scoring more than one. "We put in a great performance as we usually do against Zamalek, but we failed to seal a victory," Radwan told the post-match press conference. "Abdel-Wahed was brilliant. He's the reason why we couldn't win all three points. "We squandered a myriad of scoring opportunities, but all in all I'm satisfied with our display." Zamalek assistant manager Sami El-Sheshini blamed his team's lacklustre performance on the league break as well as the absence of several key figures. "It was a good game, but this is not our best form," he stated. "The mid-season break affected the players' fitness, and we also had to do without five regulars. "The lack of action made the team lose concentration. We were on a winning run right before the one-month break, which caused us to ease off."
