Zamalek dropped two precious points in their title race after being held to a goalless draw by a brave Gaish side on Monday. The disappointing result left the league leaders only point ahead of arch-rivals Ahli, who face ENPPI on Tuesday. Gaish moved deeper into the safe zone with 31 points on 10th place. One-way traffic Zamalek were expectedly in control of possession but struggled against the well-organized Gaish defense with their lone striker Abou Kone. Kone, who was handed a rare start due to the numerous absences in the Zamalek frontline, looked rusty in front of goal, missing a good chance after 11 minutes. Gaish manager Farouk Gaafar seemed to be dissatisfied with his side's ultra-defensive approach as he introduced striker Mikael Dodzi for midfielder Al-Sayed Abdul-Aal on the hour mark. Mahmoud Fathallah tested goalkeeper Emad Al-Sayed with a long-range freekick before the break, but the former Zamalek keeper was there to thwart. No way past Gaish Gaish looked relatively bolder with three men in attack in Dodzi, Ernest Papa Arko and Salah Amin, yet Zamalek always seemed closer to scoring. Shikabala saw a couple of freekicks drifting wide of the post, but was far from effective in midfield until the 75th minute when he almost scored one of his trade-mark solo goals. The league's top scorer took on a defender as he darted into the Gaish box before cutting inside another opponent, but his finish went agonizingly wide of Al-Sayed's right post. Gaish boss Gaafar astonishingly took off Togolese substitute Dodzi as his Zamalek counterpart Hossam Hassan replaced the ineffectual Kone with teenager Hassan Youssef. Eight minutes from time, a clear-on-goal Arko almost stunned the Cairo Stadium supporters with an unlikely winner for Gaish, but his attempted lob went inches wide. The six minutes of stoppage time given by referee Mohamed Farouk couldn't help the Whites salvage the much-needed win as they will closely watch rivals Ahli against ENPPI.
