Ahli reached the Egyptian Premier League break while holding a six-point lead on top of the table after recording a hard-fought 1-0 win at Military Production, as the Red Devils' closest rivals stumbled. Egypt striker Emad Meteb scored his maiden goal this season upon converting a free-kick in the first half, to give the defending champions all three points. The match also saw Ahli's young goalie Ahmed Adel put in one of his finest performances, to prevent hosts Production from converting a set of clear-cut chances. However, his night was partly marred when he had his nose fractured after colliding with a challenger. He was hospitalized later on and should be sidelined for several days. "He saved his goal on numerous occasions," Ahli manager Hossam Al-Badri stated while praising the 22-year-old. "He's a promising keeper who could well become a star one day. "But at Ahli we need more than one competent goalie." Ahli have all but signed Gouna goalie Sherif Ekrami starting January, and it's yet to be seen whether or not he will play regularly instead of Adel who has been quite consistent this season. Speaking of the Cairo side's latest displays, Al-Badri said: "Under the circumstances, we wanted to reach the league break in the best possible way, and I think we did well. "We have many regulars on the sidelines, and our youngsters lack the experience to fill in for the missing players." Playmaker Mohamed Abou-Treika as well as midfield trio Mohamed Barakat, Moataz Eno and Hossam Ashour are yet to shake off respective injuries.
Problems Solved A last-gasp strike from Amr Al-Safti earned Zamalek a much-needed 1-0 victory over Mansoura. Zamalek have been licking their wounds for quite a while after suffering a string of poor results in the Egyptian Premier League, which left them near the relegation zone a while back. Having won the game, the White Knights advanced to fifth spot. After the match, head coach Hossam Hassan said that he put an end to a number of Zamalek's long-lasting problems. "We solved a large number of Zamalek's problems which appeared over the past years," Hassan told the post-match press conference. "But we still have a long way to go." The 43-year-old was appointed as Zamalek manager late in November, after the sacking of his predecessor Henri Michel who failed to keep the Cairo side on an even keel. Under Hassan's management Zamalek lost to Harras Hodoud, drew with Ahli before registering three consecutive wins over Masri, Asyut Petroleum and Mansoura. On the other hand, Mido sustained a minor back injury during the game, and thus will be out of action for several days. Ismaili, Petrojet Held
Ismaili missed out on a chance to move up to second place after being unexpectedly held to a goalless draw at bottom side Asyut. The surprising result urged the coastal club's board to sanction the players, which prompted the resignations of the coaching staff members. "This is not a one-off problem with the board, it happens all the time," assistant coach Ashrak Khedr commented. Ismaili's officials are now trying to settle things down with head coach Emad Soliman, who was the first to step down from his role as a result of the 'club's board interference in his job'. Second-placed Petrojet also failed to close the gap on Ahli after they were held to a 1-1 draw at Arab Contractors. The draw left the petroleum outfit on 29 points, and the gap between them and Ahli was widened to six points after the six-time African champions beat Production. ENPPI, whom Bulgarian coach Stoycho Mladenov will manage in the second half of the season, played out a 1-1 draw at Ittihad. Gaish failed to recover from their losses to Petrojet and Ghazl Mahalla and were held to a 2-2 draw with Police Union. Harras Hodoud were surprisingly held to a goalless stalemate at Mahalla. Gouna and Masri played out another goalless draw.
