Premier League title holders Al-Ahly booked their place in the Egyptian Cup semi-finals Sunday night after edging Petrojet 1-0 thanks to a second-half strike from their ace Mohamed Abou-Treika. Al -Ahly will meet surprise package Military Production, who edged ENPPI earlier on Sunday, in Cairo on Thursday. Hossam Al-Badri made no changes to the side that outclassed Zamalek last week as Petrojet missed talisman Walid Soliman due to injury. Petrojet were the first to produce a genuine threat on goal in the opening ten minutes when Mohamed Shaaban tested Sherif Ekrami from range, but the Ahly keeper saved competently. In the 24th minute, Mohamed Fadl missed a sitter when he astonishingly headed Ahmed Hassan's volleyed-cross wide from two yards out. Two minutes later, Abou-Treika's swerving effort was too obvious to Ahmed Fawzi to thwart as Ahly looked close to breaking the deadlock. But Fawzi made another fine save to deny Sayed Moawad his maiden Ahli goal and ensure the first half ends with no goals. Ahly pushed forward after the break but looked vulnerable whenever their opponents tried a counter through pacey striker Cofie Bekoe. Seven minutes into the second half, Al-Badri made his typical substitution of taking off veteran Hassan as Ahmed Fathi was introduced. On the hour mark, Hossam Ashour rattled the crossbar with a rare long-range effort that could have been his first goal in three years. The hosts got their goal in the 68th minute through the back-in-business Abou-Treika. The midfield talisman finished off a superb team move involving Mohamed Barakat and Fadl, who threaded a fine pass for Treika to dispatch home from 12 yards. The visitors didn't make much of a reply as Ahli looked more organised at the back. A late marathon put a thrilling end to the game, with both teams wasting clear-cut chances near the end, starting with a low effort from Fadl. The Ahly defence was caught napping in injury time as substitute Ahmed Al-Fouli found himself one-on-one with Ekrami, only to send the ball wide in what was the miss of the game for Petrojet. Ahly replied with a scorcher against the bar from Shehab Ahmed as Petrojet responded fiercely once again when Ekrami had to use his fingertips to parry Al-Fouli's fluke cross in the fourth minute of stoppage time.
