Veteran Emad Met'eb helped Al-Ahly snatch a slender 2-1 win over Petrojet in the Egyptian Premier League on Monday night in Cairo. Met'eb scored a second-half brace to help Al-Ahly come from behind and beat Petrojet in an exciting clash, netting in the 60th and 74th minutes. He took his tally to seven goals this season, giving Ahly a much-needed win over the misfiring title-contenders, who have now suffered their fourth defeat in the last five games. The defending champions remain in charge of the Premier League with 52 points, while Petrojet are third on 38 points. Midfield talisman Mohamed Abou Treika boosted Al-Ahly's starting line-up, following his double against Enppi last week. The Red Devils were however without Sayyed Moawad, as youngster Ayman Ashraf started on the left flank. There was no place for strikers Francis Doe and Mohamed Fadl. The exclusion of veteran Ahmed Hassan from the Red Devils' starting eleven was another significant change by coach Hossam el-Badri. The first half was hardly eventful, but it was the visitors who came closer to breaking the deadlock through playmaker Walid Soleiman. In the 32nd minute, he waltzed around the inexperienced Ashraf before seeing his tight-angled effort whistle off the bar. Ahmed Shokri replied with a left-footed drive from the edge of the area, but couldn't hit the target. Ahly's captain Ahmed el-Sayyed appeared to be struggling with injury and was eventually replaced by Mohamed Samir at half-time. The second half brought a totally different contest as Petrojet stunned Ahly within just seven minutes through a scrappy goal from Cofie Bekoe, shortly after Shokri had missed an easy chance at the other end. Defender Karim Zekri of all people broke the offside trap and won the ball ahead of Ahly keeper Ahmed Adel, only for Bekoe to score the easiest of goals with a point-blank tap-in. Ahly responded after eight minutes with a terrific goal from Met'eb, who dispatched a well-placed shot into the net from 20 yards out. Al-Ahly committed men forward and got their equaliser in the 74th minute through the on-fire Met'eb, who found the net with a less tidy goal this time. Keeper Ahmed Fawzi denied Abou Treika's effort as the latter tried again on the rebound amid a host of Petrojet defenders, before Met'eb interfered to notch in the winner from six yards. Petrojet coach Mokhtar Mokhtar introduced the league's top scorer Eric Bekoe and Egypt international el-Sayyed Hamdi in an attempt to avoid a second successive defeat, but his changes bore no fruit. It was actually Ahly, who came close to making it three in injury time when Met'eb capped a solo run with a classy backheel for Abou Treika, who sloppily tried a dummy on Fawzi instead of firing home.
