Emad Meteb scored a second-half brace to help Ahli come from behind and beat Petrojet 2-1 at Cairo Stadium on Monday. Meteb took his tally to seven goals this season giving Ahli a much-needed win over the misfiring title-contenders, who suffered their fourth defeat in the last five games. The defending champions remain in charge of the Egyptian Premier League with 52 points, while Petrojet are third on 38. Midfield talisman Mohamed Abou-Treika boosted Ahli's starting line-up for the first time this year, following his double against ENPPI last week. The Red Devils were however without Sayed Moawad as youngster Ayman Ashraf started on the left flank. There was no place for strikers Francis Doe and Mohamed Fadl. The exclusion of veteran Ahmed Hassan from the Red Devils' starting eleven was another significant change by coach Hossam Al-Badri. Dull first half The first half was hardly eventful, but it was the visitors who came closer to breaking the deadlock through playmaker Walid Soliman. In the 32nd minute, Soliman waltzed around the inexperienced Ashraf before seeing his tight-angled effort whistled off the bar. Ahmed Shokri replied with a left-footed drive from the edge of the area, but couldn't hit the target.
Treika played 90 minutes Ahli captain Ahmed Al-Sayed appeared to be struggling with injury and was eventually replaced by Mohamed Samir at half time. Action starts The second half brought a totally-different contest as Petrojet stunned Ahli within just seven minutes through a scrappy goal from Cofie Bekoe, shortly after Shokri had missed an easy chance at the other end. Defender Karim Zekri of all people broke the offside trap and won the ball ahead of Ahli keeper Ahmed Adel, only for Bekoe to score the easiest of goals with a point-blank tap-in. Ahli responded after eight minutes with a terrific goal from Meteb, who dispatched a well-placed shot into the net from 20 yards out. Ahli committed men forward and got their equalizer in the 74th minute through the on-fire Meteb, who found the net with a less tidy goal this time. Keeper Ahmed Fawzi denied Abou-Treika's effort as the latter tried again on the rebound amid a host of Petrojet defenders, before Meteb interfered to notch in the winner from six yards. Petrojet coach Mokhtar Mokhtar introduced the league's top scorer Eric Bekoe and Egypt international Al-Sayed Hamdi in an attempt to avoid a second-successive defeat, but his changes bore no fruits. It was actually Ahli who came close to make it three in injury time when Meteb capped a solo run with a classy backheel for Abou-Treika, who sloppily tried a dummy on Fawzi instead of firing home.
