Elsewhere

Because the lead in the Egyptian league is held firmly by Ahli, the real action in the table is elsewhere, reports Ahmed Morsy

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Ahli and Zamalek had comfortable wins against Tersana and Al-Gaish

With 57 points, defending champions Ahli are 20 points ahead of second-placed Zamalek and are running away from the pack with nine games left in the domestic football league.

As a result, who will take second and third place and who will be relegated have become the big questions.

Zamalek are currently in second place but Petrojet, Ismaili and Al-Gaish are just one point behind. Moreover, Ismaili and Al-Gaish have one match in hand due to a postponement from the 10th week.

On Saturday, Zamalek bounced back from a goal down to beat Al-Gaish 2-1. In the eighth minute, Ahmed Ghanem's wrong positioning gave Al-Gaish the opportunity to beat the offside trap and open the scoring. A deflected shot went into the path of Yassin Abdel-Aal whose low shot went in at the near post to gave his team the lead.

Zamalek wasted numerous chances to level the score. Shikabala produced some glittery moves and provided two inch-perfect crosses for the not so perfect Sherif Ashraf, who failed to head goalwards on both occasions.

In the 57th minute, Zamalek notched the equaliser when Mustafa Gaafar held the ball long enough to give Mohamed Aboul-Ela an opportunity to fire into the roof of the net after providing him a pass across goal.

Gaafar was also the draftsman of Zamalek's second goal after his cross from the right found the unmarked Shikabala, who made no mistake from close range in order to give his side the lead. Subsequently, Al-Gaish pushed forward to bring back parity but had several efforts blocked by Zamalek's in-form keeper Mohamed Abdel-Monsef.

Mohamed Helmi, Zamalek's assistant coach, was impressed by his team despite the absence of several key players including Amr Zaki, Tarek El-Sayed and Gamal Hamza. ""The team played an excellent game, the win was fully deserved and I think the score line could have been more comprehensive," he told Zamalek's official site.

"We missed some important men, but the players dealt well with that."

On 6 April Zamalek meet Africa Sports of the Ivory Coast in Abidjan in the second leg match of the African Champions League after beating them 2-0 in Cairo.

On Sunday, a long-range drive from Ahmed Fathi helped Ahli extend their winning streak to 13 straight games with a 1-0 over Tersana. The defeat left Tersana in 13th place with 20 points, only one point from the relegation zone.

Ahli coach Manuel Jose opted to start with influential playmaker Mohamed Abou-Treika on the bench. Angolan hitman Flavio Amado was suspended.

In the 26th minute, Fathi collected Mohamed Barakat's lay-off before unleashing a 30-yard drive into the top corner of the net to give the title holders the lead.

Eight minutes later, the visitors were reduced to 10 men when Abdel-Rahman Mohi saw red for a second bookable offence when he committed two fouls in the space of three minutes.

Hossam El-Badri, Ahli's assistant coach, admitted that his strikers were out of form against Tersana. "We dominated possession but the strikers didn't do their job. They had many easy chances and should have done better."

Ittihad moved out of the relegation zone with a priceless 1-0 win against Petrojet in the upset of the week. The win pushed Ittihad to 12th place with 20 points. Petrojet remained third on 36 points after suffering their second home defeat of the season.

Ittihad coach Taha Basri said the win was a big step towards staying in the Premier League but insisted it was not yet over. "It was a very important victory but it doesn't mean we are safe," Basri said. "We have a lot of tough games starting with Ismaili next week and we must keep our feet on the ground," added the former ENPPI coach.

Ismaili failed in their quest to take possession of second place after being held to a goalless draw at home by Baladayet Mehalla.

Elsewhere, Telecom Egypt recorded a precious 1-1 draw with Enppi. Ivorian striker Vincent Di Foneye put ENPPI ahead just before the break but Wa'el El-Qabani hit a well-placed free kick in the 86th minute to level the score. The result left Telecom Egypt in the danger zone with 19 points in 14th place while ENPPI remained eighth with 26 points.

The Arab Contractors came back to defeat Suez Cement 3-1 at home.

Misri returned from Alexandria with a point after their goalless draw with Haras Al-Hedoud. Spinning Mehalla claimed a 4-2 home win over Aluminium to take seventh place in the league table with 29 points, seven points ahead of Aluminium who lie in 10th place with 22 points.