Petrojet regained provisional second place in the Egyptian Premier League table upon defeating Mansoura 3-1 on Monday, whereas Ismaili and Harras Hodoud played out a tame goalless draw. In Mansoura, Al-Sayed Hamdi opened the scoring on 25 minutes after latching onto a Hani Hassan cross to slot home from close range. Hosts' Ahmed Al-Saei brought the score level 19 minutes from time with a powerful shot. Later on, Petrojet suffered more when Mohamed Koffi was sent off for two bookable offences. Much as the Petroleum outfit were outnumbered, they managed to claim a victory by a two-goal margin. Amr Hassan fired Petrojet upfront again eight minutes from time after he amazingly feinted past several challengers to go one-on-one with the keeper and slide past him and into the net. Farag Shalabi, who came in as a substitute, ensured the superiority of Mokhtar Mokhtar's team deep into injury time by adding the third with a shot from outside the area. Now Petrojet are back in provisional second place with 24 points, while Mansoura are 14th with 10.
In Alexandria, Ismaili failed to clinch a marginal victory at Hodoud, to move from second spot to fourth. The home side could have taken an early lead, but Ahmed Eid's fierce header was competently blocked by Ismaili goalie Essam Al-Hadari. Skillful forward Eid tried his luck again near the edge of the area seven minutes past the half-hour mark, but his drive went past the right post. While Hodoud were in control, the Dervishes tried to be dangerous on the counter attack but they were vulnerable to their opposition offside trap. Ismaili's most precious chance fell to Mohamed Salah Abou-Greisha, who went one-on-one with custodian Mathurin Kameni but his shot drifted wide of the mark. Abou-Greisha was also about to hit a last-gasp winner when he headed an Ahmed Sedik cross, the ball went past the left post though. Ismaili are now on 23 points, while 16-placed Hodoud are on 16.
