Substitute Dominique da Silva scored seven minutes from time to salvage a precious 2-2 draw for Ahli against Zamalek in a nervy derby clash on Wednesday. The defending champions pegged back twice with Geddo and Dominique canceling out an early own-goal from Sherif Abdul-Fadil and a fine strike from Hussein Yasser. The tension escalated after Ahli's second as Zamalek were furious when their opponents refused to put the ball out of play when two players were down during the build up to the goal. The draw doesn't help Zamalek who remain five points adrift of their arch-rivals, with three games remaining for both teams. Jose's gamble While the introduction of wing-back Hazem Emam was the only significant change in Zamalek's line-up, Ahli boss Manuel Jose's surprise was a new strategy. The Portuguese added Moataz Eno as another defensive midfielder to join Hossam Ashour and Hossam Ghaly, keeping Sayed Moawad on the bench and starting with Ahmed Fathi on the left flank. Like they did in two derby matches last season, Zamalek were off to a dream start, taking the lead after just six minutes thanks to some shambolic defending from the Reds. Yasser sent Ahmed Gaafar through as the latter delicately chipped goalkeeper Ahmed Adel, only for Ahmed Al-Sayed to complete the job by firing the ball straight into the body of Abdul-Fadil, who watched the ball agonizingly go into his own net. Ahli were stunned by the early opener, while looking awkward with just two men upfront in Emad Meteb and Geddo, who grabbed a relatively-undeserved equalizer for his side with the first shot on target on 19 minutes. The Egypt forward rose above Abdul-Wahed Al-Sayed to head in Mohamed Barakat's innocuous cross, as the Zamalek guardian had to take the blame for his inexplicable rush-out. But the Whites were not disheartened by the goal as they still looked the better side, earning their second goal through the lively Yasser. The former Ahli man made it three goals in four matches against his old club by finishing off an terrific assist from Shikabala with an instinctive lob over Adel on 26 minutes. Ultra-defense...Late equalizer
Geddo's goal Jose replaced Eno by Dominique at half time in an attempt to refresh his inactive frontline and the Mauritanian didn't disappoint for the third game running. It was one-way traffic in favor of the defending champions, yet they struggled to work the ball into Abdul-Wahed's box, while looking vulnerable against their opponent's counter moves. Halfway through the second half, Jose made a double substitution introducing Ahmed Hassan and Amir Sayoud for Barakat and Meteb. Hossam Hassan replied with a totally-defensive change, taking off his lone striker Gaafar for defensive midfielder Ahmed Tawfik, before replacing Shikabala by Mohamed Aoudia. While hardly producing a shot on Abdul-Wahed's goal, Ahli snatched another equalizer through Dominique, who coolly controlled Mahmoud Fathallah's clearance before unleashing an unstoppable half-volley past Abdul-Wahed. Chaos The invaluable strike sent the Ahli bench into raptures, only for the overjoyed Jose to find his Zamalek counterpart Hassan beside him protesting over the goal. The Whites were unhappy when Ghaly didn't hold play while Ibrahim Salah and Ashour Al-Adham were down, but television replays showed Dutch referee Kevin Blom while waving play on. The Dutchman judged that Al-Adham, who was closer to the goal, went down with no challenge as he was not the first Zamalek player to go to the ground unforced. Play was stopped for nearly ten minutes as chaos almost forced referee Blom to call the game off, with a number of players from both sides involved in separate altercations. Ahli defender Wael Gomaa tried bravely to contain the situation by talking to Hossam and Ibrahim Hassan and some nervous Zamalek players in an attempt to calm them down. The game was finally resumed and during the ten minutes of injury time, Ahli's Ashour received a straight red card for allegedly hitting Hani Saied in the face. Ahli held tight for their point as the tired Zamalek players couldn't pose any threat on Adel's goal during the remaining few seconds.
