Petrojet handed Al-Gaish their first defeat this season after beating the leaders 2-1 in the ninth matchday of the Egyptian league in Suez on Wednesday. Palestinian midfielder Mohamed Samara scored the winner eight minutes from time, after Mamdouh Abdul-Hay had cancelled out Mohamed Al-Fakahani's opener for Petrojet. The win put Petrojet in second place with 19 points, three adrift of Gaish, who remain in charge of the table despite the defeat. The home side looked brighter in the opening few minutes as Waleed Soliman was unlucky to see his pile-driver come off the cross bar. Shortly after Soliman's effort, the league's top scorer Alaa Ibrahim superbly dribbled past three defenders before shooting inches wide. In the 25th minute, Petrojet's dominance paid off when defender Al-Fakahani opened the scoring with a long-range effort, which took the slightest of deflections off a Gaish defender. Surprisingly, the situation remained as it was before the goal, as Petrojet kept their ascendancy over the league leaders. Gaish coach Talaat Youssef made an early substitution in the 31st minute, introducing striker Sameh Adrous in place of Ghanaian forward Ernest Papa Arko. Youssef's side looked fresher after the switch, and they managed to get their equalizer seven minutes from the break. Hossam Abdul-Aal released Mohsen Al-Shahhat, who had a chance to score, but he unselfishly set up Abdul-Hay instead, and the latter hit the empty net to level the score. The second half seemed to be balanced and the game tempo rose as both teams looked determinant to grab the three points. 25 minutes into the second half, Gaish had a convincing penalty claim when Hassan Moussa was clearly shoved by Hisham Al-Noubi, but the referee waved play on. Ten minutes later, the game took a significant twist as Petrojet assaulted the Gaish goal with a series of attacks, which saw substitute Zeeka Goory miss an empty net, before Osama Mohamed's clear on goal effort was blocked by Wael Khalifa. Eventually, Samara took advantage of the vulnerable Gaish defense, when he finished off a fine move by Petrojet to send the home fans into raptures. Gaish committed men forward to deny their first defeat of the season, but Abdul-Aal failed to convert an easy opportunity for an equalizer in the dying moments.
