A late own goal by Ayman Khalil gave Zamalek a precious 2-1 away victory over Al-Baladeya on Saturday to register their first win in the Egyptian League. Zamalek one down in the first-half, thanks to Ahmed Sonbol's strike before Amr Zaki leveled the score in the 72nd minute with a superb acrobatic effort. Khalil headed into his own net two minutes from time to hand the visitors the three points. The Cairo giants' coach Ruud Krol stuck with the line-up he fielded in the 1-0 defeat to Ismaili in the league opener, with the only change being the presence of Zaki who missed the previous encounter due to suspension. Zamalek defender Mahmoud Fathallah had the first sight of goal after seven minutes when he pounced on a poor clearance by Al-Baladeya keeper from a corner to loop him but his effort was cleared off the line by a defender. The men in white had useless domination of possession in the first-half as they failed to create another scoring opportunity. Sonbol put Al-Baladeya ahead in the 20th minute when he capitalized on a howler by Mohamed Abdul-Monsef to head home after the keeper failed to handle Reda Al-Azab's cross. Former Zamalek forward Hani El-Egeizi could have doubled the score eight minutes later when he rose above Beshir Al-Tabie to head just wide of the post.
The 22-year-old wasted another golden opportunity eight minutes after re-start when he stole possession from Tunisian defender Wissem El-Abdi, who replaced the injured Karim Zekri, and went clear on goal but shot poorly wide. Moments later, Mahmoud Abdul-Razeq 'Shikabala' appealed for penalty when he was tackled down inside the area but the referee waved play on. Television replays showed that there was a contact between the winger and Al-Baladeya defender. In the 70th minute, Ahmed Ghanem's cross was headed by Zaki across the six-yard box but Abdul-Halim Ali failed to get to the end of it. Egypt international striker Zaki finally notched the equalizer two minutes later after he controlled Ghanem's cross inside the area before sending a brilliant scissors kick past the motionless keeper. Shikabala almost put Zamalek ahead six minutes from time but his curling free-kick narrowly missed the target. In the 88th minute, Al-Baladeya defender Khalil tried to clear El-Abdi's free-kick but he headed into his own net instead. Elsewhere, two late goals handed Petrojet a 2-0 victory over newly-promoted side Telecom Egypt. Osama Mohamed opened the scoring nine minutes from time before Alaa Ibrahim sealed the victory four minutes later.
