CAIRO: Ahly registered a narrow 2-1 victory over Arab Contractors on Wednesday to go five points clear at the top of the Egyptian Premier League table.
Second-placed Petrojet surprisingly slumped to a 3-1 defeat to lowly Olympic a day earlier, which gave the Red Devils the chance of cementing their place at the summit.
Ahly playmaker Mohamed Abou-Trika, who was included in the starting eleven, made his comeback in style after scoring the opener 10 minutes after the start of the game.
Ahmed Badawi netted the leveler for the visitors on the hour mark, and Flavio Amado hit the winner for the African champions at 85 minutes.
Now Ahly lie on top spot with 36 points, while Contractors are in 12th place with 12 points.
Ahly were aiming to control the game from the very beginning, trying to take advantage of Contractors disorganization.
Ahmed Fathi had the first opportunity seconds after the kick-off, but his low free-kick was too easy for goalie Daouda Diakite.
Mercurial midfielder Mohamed Barakat was obstructed in the penalty area, and the referee didn t hesitate for a second to signal for a spot-kick, protests from the other team.
Egypt ace Abou-Trika, who got back in action after recuperating from a niggling knee injury, converted the penalty-kick to earn his team an early lead.
Later on, Contractors piled up pressure from both flanks, but none of their attempts posed real threat on Ahly.
The referee halted the game for a while after Ahly defender Ahmed Al-Sayed collided with Diakite 22 minutes into the game.
The match was resumed shortly after both footballers received medical treatment on the pitch.
At 27 minutes, Barakat unleashed a powerful low shot towards Diakite, who easily blocked it.
Fathi was close to doubling Ahly s slender lead six minutes from the interval when he went one-on-one with the Burkina Faso guardian, but the latter easily denied the combative midfielder s point-blank effort.
Abou-Trika, who has obviously regained peak form, earned a well-positioned free-kick, but couldn t hit the second goal thanks to Diakite s dexterity.
Fathi latched onto Abou-Trika s deft pass to rifle a good shot that hit the post in the first half’s dying minutes.
The second half witnessed a brief cagey start from both sides, but it turned into an eventful affair in no time.
Midfielder Badawi canceled out Ahly s lead from a tame in-direct free-kick that landed in the left bottom corner of the net.
After the equalizer, the Mountain Wolves exerted relative dominance over the hosts, who were a bit shaken after conceding a goal.
Reda Al-Weeshi could have put Contractors ahead on 66 minutes, but his close-range effort hit the side-netting.
Six minutes later, former Ahly striker Al-Weeshi squandered another golden opportunity when he headed Samuel Kyere s precise cross inches past the target.
Eleven minutes from time, the crossbar prevented Ehab Al-Masri from heading the second goal for Contractors.
As in many previous matches, Gilberto s pinpoint free-kick was headed into the net by his Angolan countryman Flavio to end the game in Ahly s favor.
