CAIRO: Double injury time goals for Zamalek sealed a comfortable 3-1 win over Cement Suez on Monday night to keep fighting for the second place in the league.
Former Zamalek defender Ahmed Bakri opened the scoring from the spot at the 24th minute for the visitors but the Whites registered an impressive fight back for a 3-1 victory thanks to goals from Alaa Abdel Ghani (34), Mahmoud Mahmoud (90+1) and Abdul-Halim Ali (90+4).
The victory keeps Zamalek at the 3rd place with 56 points just 1 behind Ismaili but with a match in hand.
We had to wait for the 16th minute to see some real action when Ali sent a long ball to Gamal Hamza who crossed it low to Mahmoud Abul-Razeq “Shikabala but Mohamed Sallam cleared the ball from the goal line.
Five minutes later Mahmoud Al-Nadi led a counter in a one man show going from his half to Zamalek’s area, past the defense, but his effort was denied by a superb Mohamed Abdul-Monsef stretch.
The action ended with the injury of Tunisian defender Yamen Ben Zekri who had to clear the ball before Ekrami Abdul-Aziz could kick the rebound. Henri Michel brought in Mahmoud Mahmoud and switched his tactic to play with three central defenders as Wael Qabani got back to his favorite sweeper position.
The visitors seemed better in those few minutes and were able to control the ball in midfield. Former Zamalek winger Ahmed Omran tried to break through and earned a penalty as referee Sayed Fathi penalized Alaa Abdul-Ghani for his clumsy tackle. Bakri scored from the spot to put his team ahead.
Not for too long as 10 minutes later Shikabala gives a magic pass to Abdul-Ghani in the area who shots it low to score his team’s equalizer.
The second half witnessed of a complete domination from the home side who had a series of opportunities to score. At the 55th minute, Gamal Hamza received the ball in the area but he blasts it over the bar. Tarek Al-Sayed magnificent right foot shot was denied by the post 9 minutes later.
It only could become worse for the visitors as midfielder Ahmed Shohdi was shown the red card at the 68th minute to leave his team-mates in a very critical situation.
In form Shikabala fired a superb shot past the keeper but he was frustrated by the bar deflection.
Ali also had one golden chance when he was in a face to face with the keeper but the latter excelled to keep the score level.
Just a few seconds from the final whistle, Qabani crosses the ball in the six yards and Mahmoud converted a powerful header in the back of the net to save the day for his side.
Ali added the third two minutes from close range.
