Ahli's second successive league draw, this time with arch-rivals Zamalek in the Cairo derby, could enhance the outsiders' hopes of mounting a serious challenge for the prestigious accolade. With the Red Devils, Egyptian champions for the past five seasons, unsurprisingly making a strong start to their campaign, pundits hardly tipped another team to be included in the title race. But two consecutive draws might show that Ahli, although without several key players due to injuries, are not that invincible. They settled for a goalless draw with a stuttering Zamalek side at Cairo Stadium on Tuesday, few days after salvaging a 1-1 draw with Ittihad in Alexandria. "We failed to make our dominance count. We wasted too many goalscoring opportunities," Ahli coach Hossam Al-Badri said after the game. Surprise package Gaish and improving Petrojet, who finished third last season, capitalized on Ahli's stumble to go within four points of them after 12 games. Petrojet secured a late 3-1 victory over Mansoura to make up for their disappointing draw with bottom side Asyut Petroleum.
Petrojet move closer to Ahli Egyptian international striker Al-Sayed Hamdi, who recently returned from a lengthy injury layoff, gave them a first-half lead but Mansoura's Ahmed Al-Saei equalized on 71 minutes. The match looked as though it was heading for a draw but Petrojet, despite having Ghanaian forward Cofie Bekoe sent off, scored two goals in the last 10 minutes to claim all three points. "Victory was essential to bring us back on track after the defeat to Ahli and the draw with Asyut," Petrojet coach Mokhtar Mokhtar, who has been at their helm since steering them to Premier League promotion in 2006, said. Gaish, level on 24 points with Petrojet, continued their impressive run with a 2-0 home win over ENPPI. Two goals from Sameh Hassan and in-form Ghanaian striker Ernest Papa Arko, the league's joint top scorer last season and a consistent menace to opponents, gave Farouk Gaafar's side their third successive victory. Gaish still boast the most prolific strikers in Papa Arko, Talaat Moharam, Salah Amin and Mikael Dogbe, who scored 21 goals between them. No Savior
Hodoud hold Ismaili Ismaili slipped to fourth on 23 points after failing to find another savior in the goalless draw with Harras Hodoud. The coastal club relied on two headers from central defender Moatasem Salem, an unlikely rescuer, to claim two wins in a row at the expense of Ghazl Mahalla and Police Union when they played without recognized strikers. They welcomed back striker Mohamed Mohsen Abou-Greisha against Hodoud but he failed to impress and wasted a clear-cut chance to break the deadlock in the second half. "We lost two points in our bid to compete with Ahli. We could have won but Abou-Greisha was unlucky," Ismaili coach Emad Soliman said. Ittihad continued their fine run under Brazilian coach Carlos Cabral, drawing 1-1 with Masri to extend their unbeaten streak to six games. Asyut became seven points adrift of the safety zone after losing 1-0 to Arab Contractors and Police Union moved up to ninth with a 1-0 victory over Gouna. Ghazl Mahalla, boosted after being awarded a win over Gouna who paid for fielding an ineligible player, played out a 1-1 draw with Military Production.
