Ahli have borne the fruit of their multi-million investment in Abdullah Al-Saied as the set piece ace hit the only goal against former club Ismaili in a fan-less Egyptian Premier League game. Al-Saied, who was renowned for his trade-mark freekicks at Ismaili, fired one past Mohamed Sobhi seconds before half time. The league holders played for half an hour with a man down as defender Wael Gomaa received his marching orders for a second bookable offense. Ahli regained second place with five points behind leaders Harras Hodoud, who played two more games. Ismaili lie seventh. Set piece contest A poor first half only witnessed a couple of genuine attempts on targets at either end, with set piece specialists Hosni Abd-Rabou and Al-Saied going head to head. The league's top scorer Abd-Rabou came close to netting his eighth goal in as many games but his freekick was brilliantly palmed away by Sherif Ekrami. The reply had to come from Abd-Rabou's ex-teammate Al-Saied, who won the freekick he was looking for just before half time. Al-Saied stepped up to punish the club he spent most of his career with, dispatching the ball past Sobhi with venom. Controversy, red card and shock miss Ahmed Fathi was forced off before the break as Mohamed Shawky replaced Walid Soliman at half time, leaving Ahli with one remaining sub until the end of the game. Manuel Jose was increasingly fuming with refereeing, with linesman Diaa Al-Sakran making a controversial offside decision against a through-on-goal Geddo. Mohamed Abou-Treika was set to come in but a few minutes later, Gomaa was sent off for a second bookable offence and more protests came from the Reds bench. Defensive midfielder Shehab Ahmed replaced lone striker Emad Meteb as the visitors took a stranglehold on the game, with Mohamed Abou-Greisha agonizingly missing the target. The best chance of the match though came to the mercy of striker Ahmed Ali, who shockingly headed Ahmed Samir Farag's cross wide in front of an empty net.
