Gamal Hamza came off the bench to notch a brace and lead Zamalek to a 4-2 home win over Arab Contractors in a thrilling Egyptian League encounter on Wednesday. Minusu Buba's strike for Contractors ten minutes after re-start cancelled out Mostafa Gaafar's opener in the first-half. Hamza restored Zamalek's lead moments after his introduction before midfielder Alaa Abdul-Ghani added the third. Buba gave Contractors a lifeline but Hamza struck again to help Zamalek ease the disappointment of being knocked out of the CAF Champions League preliminaries at the hands of Sudan's Hilal. Zamalek are third in the league table with 46 points and two games in hand, two short of second-placed Ismaili who still have one match to play. Zamalek coach Henri Michel sticked with his 4-4-2 formation, fielding Tunisian defender Wissem El-Abdi instead of Wael Al-Qabani in the heart of the defense while Gaafar partnered Abdul-Halim Ali upfront due to Amr Zaki's absence. The French boss was forced to make an early substitution, introducing left-back Osama Hassan instead of Tarek Al-Sayed who limped off the pitch due to an injury. Zamalek's first chance came in the 24th minute when Ali controlled a short pass inside the area, turned and hit a low shot that was saved by Contractors keeper Samir Ashour. The Cairo giants were ahead in the 33rd minute when Ashour failed to handle an easy free-kick before blocking Ali's close-range shot on the rebound.
The ball then fell into the path of Gaafar, who made no mistake as Ashour couldn't deny the second successive shot. In the 39th minute, Ali sent a left-footed shot that went just wide of the post from inside the area. Contractors Nigerian midfielder Joshua Izuchukwu almost leveled the score three minutes before the break when he rose to head a free-kick at the far post just wide. Izuchukwu's compatriot Bouba grabbed the equalizer in the 55th minute after he capitalized on a poor marking by Zamalek defender Yamen ben Zekri to cut ahead of keeper Abdul-Wahed Al-Sayed and convert home Mohamed Ouda's cross. Ten minutes later, in-form Gaafar raced through Contractors' area, side-stepped a defender, rounded the keeper and drilled the ball only to be denied by Aboul-Magd Mostafa's goal-line clearance. Zamalek regained the lead in the 74th minute through Hamza, who was introduced instead of Ali, as he sent a low shot into the bottom corner after being set-up by Gaafar's superb back-heel pass. Abdul-Ghani extended the gap in the 78th minute with a powerful shot into the roof of the net following a defensive blunder by Rami Adel. Buba pulled one back just one minute later after he took advantage of another flimsy defending by the men in white to head home Ouda's free-kick past the motionless Al-Sayed. Hamza connected with Ahmed Hossam's pinpoint cross to head into the back of the net and seals the victory in stoppage time.
