CAIRO: Ahly outplayed 10-man Ismail on Saturday but failed to claim all three points after the Dervishes struggled to end the Egyptian Premier League game in a 1-1 draw.
Ismail s Ahmed Sedik broke the deadlock after 17 minutes, but Mostafa Shebeita restored parity late in the first half.
The home side were outnumbered for more than half an hour after Moatasem Salem was dismissed nearly on the hour mark.
Defending champions Ahly are now four points clear on top of the league table, while fourth-placed Ismaili are on 23 points, trailing the leaders by six.
Ahly had to do without several regular figures in midfield trio Mohamed Abou-Treika, Mohamed Barakat and Moataz Eno who were all out through injury.
On the other hand, Red Devils frontline duo Emad Meteb and Francis Doe made their return after shaking off respective injuries.
Neither the home nor the away fans made any troubles throughout the match.
But after the game, several hooligans attacked the visiting team s bus.
Ahly midfielder Hossam Ashour sustained a minor facial injury when a host of Ismaili s fans hurled stones at the Red Devils bus, after both sides 1-1 draw in the Egyptian Premier League.
FilGoal.com learned that Ahli wanted to report the incident to the police, but club president Hamdi urged them not to.
Several prominent figures watched the game from the stands, including Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak s younger son Alaa Mubarak and Egypt coach Hassan Shehata.
Days ago, Ahly and Ismaili chairmen Hassan Hamdi and Nasr Aboul-Hassan called on fans to behave well in Saturday s game.
Ahly also drew with Zamalek and Ittihad in their previous league games, thanks to the unavailability of a number of their regular figures.
Exciting start
The match witnessed and exciting start, with hosts Ismaili coming on with all guns blazing, looking to open the scoring in the early minutes.
The Dervishes kept the upper hand for quite a while, with Ahly’s fringe players clearly unable to cope with the opposition onslaught.
Ismaili could have netted an opener only after two minutes when Ahmed Samir Farag whipped in a cross that was met by Abdullah Al-Saied, who failed to divert the ball into the net.
Ahly midfielder Abdullah Farouk was adjudged to have tackled Ahmed Ali in the area on 17 minutes, although instant replays proved that the latter theatrically dived.
Sedik converted the spot kick to put Ismaili ahead and set the game alight.
Ahly were revitalized later on and sought to cancel out the coastal side s slender lead.
Meteb was close to leveling the score but his drive was amazingly blocked by Al-Hadari, who also parried Mohamed Fadl s follow-up effort from point-blank range.
Shebeita hit the equalizer on the stroke of halftime with a precise shot from outside the area.
Pressure
After the break, Ahly by far tightened their grip on the game and piled up pressure upfront, looking to take the lead.
Ahly striker Doe replaced off-form hitman Mohamed Fadl, to intensify the visitors attack.
The Cairo giants increased their domination after Ismaili defender Salem was sent off for two bookable offences either side of the interval.
Meteb was about to put Ahly ahead, but his close-range shot hit the crossbar.
Ahly kept trying to capitalize on their opponents numerical disadvantage and carved out a number of chances. Ismaili became dangerous on the counter attack.
The dying minutes were full of action but no goals were scored.
