A late goal from Mohamed Hamed earned Harras Hodoud a 2-2 draw at home to Zamalek on Thursday and denied the last season's runners-up an opening Egyptian Premier League victory. Zamalek looked close to securing their fist league win over Hodoud in five meetings after overturning a one-goal deficit in the second half. A penalty from Ahmed Hassan Mekki gave the hosts the lead shortly after the quarter-hour mark but Ivorian striker Abou Kone marked his debut with a brilliant acrobatic effort to gift Zamalek the equalizer early in the second half. Amr Zaki, who played his first game with Zamalek after returning from an unsuccessful loan spell with English side Hull City, put the visitors ahead after scoring his first goal on the club level since December 2009 via another penalty. But Hamed's goal three minutes from time cut short the celebrations of Zamalek, who are aiming to win the league title for the first time since 2004. Zamalek coach Hossam Hassan introduced two new arrivals in Kone, who joined from Military Production, and holding midfielder Ashour Al-Adham. Hodoud coach Tarek Al-Ashri missed some key players due to injury, including veteran defender Islam Al-Shater. Slack Defending Some slack defending from Zamalek's right-back Ahmed Ghanem allowed Hodoud forward Ahmed Eid to launch several raids, with one of them resulting in a 16th-minute penalty.
A lapse of concentration from Ghanem helped the Egyptian international jink into the area before being tripped by defensive midfielder Ibrahim Salah. Mekki's spot kick beat Zamalek's long-serving keeper Abdul-Wahed Al-Sayed, who was given the nod ahead of new arrival Essam Al-Hadari, although he got a hand to it. Zaki and winger Shikabala, who was included in the starting line up despite his recent disciplinary problems, could have equalized on two occasions before the break but saw their low shots go just wide of the post. Abou Kone made his presence felt five minutes after the restart with a superb effort to level the score. He was played onside by Hodoud's young defender Mohamed Abdul-Maguid to meet Al-Adham's headed pass with an overhead kick that went past Hodoud keeper Ali Farag. Zamalek piled on pressure and managed to add the second in the 62nd minute after left-winger Hussein Yasser went down under a clumsy challenge from Hodoud's Abdul-Rahman Farouk as the referee pointed to the spot. Zaki converted the ensuing penalty to end a barren run that stretches back to his stint with English Premier League club Wigan Athletic. Coach Hassan opted to substitute Zaki, Shikabala and Yasser in the dying minutes but his decision backfired as Hodoud capitalized on a recurring defensive blunder to secure a share of spoils. Hamed lost his marker on the left hand side of Zamalek's penalty area to meet a pinpoint cross with a first-time shot that beat Al-Sayed at his near post as Hodoud extended their unbeaten streak against the Cairo side to five games.
