ENPPI roared back to form to come from behind and record an unprecedented 3-1 victory over Zamalek, who suffered a succession of blunders in the Egyptian Premier League game. The White Knights took the lead only after four minutes with a strike from Mohamed Abdul-Shafi, and for a while seemed to be totally in control of the game. ENPPI's Mohamed Aboul-Ella, a former Zamalek man, restored parity five minutes past the half-hour mark. The hosts were fired upfront when defender Mohamed Nasef got his name on the score sheet four minutes past the interval. Goalie Essam Al-Hadari, who joined Zamalek in the summer, is definitely to blame for the first two goals the Whites conceded. Their rearguard was stuttering too. Vincent Die Foneye put the icing on the cake for ENPPI in the dying minutes. ENPPI's victory on Monday is their first-ever over Zamalek. The Whites won every match with the petroleum side in the last five seasons, including the Egyptian Cup final in 2008. Stranglehold Zamalek took a stranglehold on the game right after the kickoff, with ENPPI appearing to be out of tricks.
Abdul-Shafi opened the scoring with a delightful long-range shot that hit the top corner of the net. Zamalek kept the upper hand for a while but ENPPI redeemed themselves later in the first half. Walid Soliman put in one of his finest performances, which evidently helped ENPPI overturn their goal deficit. Former Petrojet playmaker Soliman whipped a precise low cross towards Aboul-Ella, whose first-time left-footed effort was poor but went past the off-form Al-Hadari. Slip-ups Al-Hadari made a number of slip-ups early in the second half too. He failed to control an Amr Al-Halawani tame shot that eventually went out. The former Ahli keeper was made to pay for his poor save when Nasef volleyed a Soliman corner-kick past him. The Egypt number-one was inexplicably static. Zamalek coach Hossam Hassan introduced Hazem Emam, Emad Reda and Ahmed Gaafar instead of Abou Kone, Omar Gaber and Ibrahim Salah in an attempt to increase his team's firepower, albeit to no avail. When their opponents played offensively, ENPPI became too dangerous on the counter attack. Die Foneye rounded off a counter attack when he came one-on-one with Al-Hadari after beating Mahmoud Fathallah to the ball. His drive went over the out-of-sorts custodian.
