CAIRO: Two penalties from midfielder Hosni Abd-Rabou earned Ismaili a 4-2 home victory over Harras Al-Hodoud in the Egyptian League on Monday. Amr Samir and Sayed Moawad also notched for the Dervishes while Abdul-Salam Nagah and Amr Al-Dali were on target for Al-Hodoud. Military club Al-Hodoud played with 10 men on the field for the last 13 minutes after midfielder Abdul-Rahman Farouk was sent-off for a second bookable offense. Ismaili are second in the league table with 51 points, five ahead of third-placed Zamalek who still have two games in hand while Al-Hodoud lie seventh on 32 points. The hosts were awarded a controversial penalty in the 14th minute when Moawad was allegedly brought down by Farouk inside the area. Television replays showed there was no contact. Penalty-kick specialist Abd-Rabou sent the keeper the wrong way and put Ismaili ahead. Striker Samir doubled the lead in the 22nd minute when he connected with Omar Gamal s pinpoint cross at the far post to send a first-timer into the back of the net. Nagah pulled one back on the stroke of the hour mark after receiving Al-Dali s free-kick from the right-flank with a brilliant backward header past Ismaili keeper Mohamed Sobhi. Al-Hodoud s efforts to equalize suffered a major blow after Farouk received his marching orders for handling the ball inside the area. Egypt international Abd-Rabou stepped-up and made no mistake from the resulting spot-kick. Despite their numerical disadvantage, Al-Dali gave Al-Hodoud a lifeline from another penalty awarded four minutes from time. However, Moawad killed-off the visitors hopes in stoppage time when he latched on to Gamal s superb pass to fire into the bottom corner of the net from a tight angle.
