Ittihad assistant coach Mohamed Nour says his side missed out on a deserved victory over Ahli on Thursday. The coastal side held defending champions Ahli to a 1-1 draw in Alexandria, to end the Red Devils' five-match winning streak in the Egyptian Premier League. Nour is adamant that Ittihad took a stranglehold on the game and should have registered a well-earned win. "We mostly controlled the match and could have claimed all three points, but we failed," he said. "Even when Ahli got the upper hand they weren't really efficient. We were close to recording a victory, but it eventually slipped away." On his players' display, Nour said: "I'm really glad with the performance they put in, especially the backline. "(Former Ahli defender) Shadi Mohamed and the rest of the players produced a great display." Ittihad had an abysmal start to the season after failing to claim a single win in their six opening games. But later on, following the appointment of Brazilian coach Carlos Cabral, they ended their winless run and moved away from the relegation zone. Now Ittihad are in 11th place with 12 points.