Ahli were hardly affected by the absence of fans after claiming a 3-1 victory over newly-promoted Dakhlia in the Egyptian Premier League. Wael Gomaa and Emad Meteb gave the Reds a first-half lead, before Hossam Ghaly headed the third in the 65th minute to put the game to bed. Substitute Armand Violete grabbed a late equalizer for the newcomers as Ahli played for over 10 minutes with a man down, following the injury of Dominique da Silva. It was a seemingly-comfortable result but the six-time African champions were fortunate to come out with the three points, given their less-than-impressive performance in the second half. Manuel Jose's team retain top spot with 11 points whereas Dakhlia are still winless with one point from four games. Unlucky Dakhlia…clinical Ahli The game marked the full debut of Ahli youngster Ahmed Al-Esh, who was called in to replace the injured Mohamed Naguib. After Meteb had a glaring miss early on, Dakhlia almost punished Ahli when striker Ahmed Temsah saw his superb volley bounce off Sherif Ekrami's bar, in what could have been the goal of the week. Ahli responded when the lively Meteb was brought down by the keeper as penalty expert Gomaa made no mistake from the spot with his first of the season. Meteb then pounced on a scruffy play to hit the net from close range with his fourth goal in five games, following some good work from Ahmed Fathi from the right. In the second half, Fathi came up with another assist, crossing brilliantly for Ghaly to head home with ease from close range. With the scoreline beyond doubt, Jose introduced under-fire striker Fabio Junior, who once more proved to be anything but an impressive signing for the league holders. With no sound coming from the empty stands, Jose's hard-talk in Portuguese was quite clear as he seemed to be far from happy with the Brazilian. Ahli had to end the match with a man down as substitute Dominique was stretchered off after the three substitutions were made. Dakhlia capitalized on the one-man advantage when Ivorian striker Violete fired home from close range, following a mix-up between Ekrami and Gomaa. The visitors were denied by the woodwork once again when Walid Al-Hossari saw his injury-time effort hit the post before going wide.
