Ashraf Shiha curled a low shot home late in the second period to give Tersana a precious 1-1 draw against Ahli in their Egyptian League game on Monday. Ahli were set on the way to a comfortable victory when Emad Meteb scored the opener in the 18th minute but Tersana capitalized on Ahli's drastic dip in form after the break to equalize in the 85th minute. The tie put Tersana in 13th spot with three points while Ahli were left fifth with 11 points. Ahli coach Manuel Jose opted to rest starters Mohamed Abou-Treika and Hassan Mostafa in preparation for the clash with ASEC Mimosas in the African Champions League semis next week. Ahmad Hassan started for the second successive game and Meteb returned to the starting line-up after missing three games due to disciplinary reasons. He marked his comeback with his first goal in more than a month when he darted a low shot into the bottom corner to open the score line.
Shiha Tersana looked in a much better form than during the 4-1 defeat against Zamalek earlier this month and launched several raids on Essam Al-Hadari's net searching for the equalizer. Hossam Al-Sherbini shot into Al-Hadari's hand from inside the box in the 34th minute before swinging a dangerous cross from the right but Ahmed Sedik cleared it before Tersana's anticipating striker. Tersana continued their brave game in the second-half, with coach Farouk Gaafar fielding veteran striker Hossam Hassan to pump new blood into his team. Hassan, Egypt's most capped player, troubled Ahli's shaken back three and almost scored the equalizer in the 74th minute when he latched to meet a right-flank cross but Al-Hadari tipped the ball away before the foot of the 40-year-old international. Shiha leveled the score five minutes from time when he raced down the left side and cut inside the area with Ahli sweeper Shadi Mohamed ruining the offside trap. The veteran winger cut inside the area and as Al-Hadari advanced to block the potential cross towards Hassan, Shiha stunned everybody with a curly shot into the far side netting past the Egypt goalie. Ahli attacked in numbers in the remaining minutes in a bid to notch a late winner but Tersana defense spoiled all their attempts to escape with a precious point.
