CAIRO: Mohamed Abou Treika s first-half strike was enough to hand Ahly a 1-0 victory over arch-rivals Zamalek in the 100th Cairo derby on Monday.
The classy playmaker produced one of his pieces of magic eight minutes before the interval to become one of the derby s all-time scorers.
His seventh goal against Zamalek puts him level with former Ahly player Toutou and Zamalek s Alaa Al-Hamouli.
Egyptian League holders Ahly moved to the table s summit with 11 points, one ahead of second-placed Ismaili who were held to a 1-1 draw by newly-promoted Aluminium.
Zamalek, suffering their second defeat of the season, lie fifth on nine points.
Both sides started the game in a cautious manner, as neither of them was able to mount a serious threat in the first 10 minutes.
The contest s rhythm was even marred by too many mispasses from both teams.
Ahly had the first sight of goal in the 11th minute after some good work from skipper Shadi Mohamed on the right flank.
Flavio stepped over Shadi s cross and the ball went into the path of Abou-Treika, who turned and hit a right-footed shot just over the crossbar.
In the 15th minute, striker Abdul-Halim Ali s low shot was parried by Essam Al-Hadari but none of Zamalek players were able to make the follow-up.
Shikabala raced down the left flank in the 28th minute and sent a fine cross to Ali, who got in front of his marker but his first-time effort went wide.
Abou-Treika put Ahly ahead in the 37th minute following disastrous defending by Zamalek players.
Hossam Ashour was surrounded by Karim Zekri and Mahmoud Fathallah but managed to release Abou-Treika with a deft pass that beat the offside trap.
The Egyptian international went clear on goal and wrong-footed Mohamed Abdul-Monsef before slotting into the empty net.
Seven minutes after the restart, Flavio latched onto Gilberto s through pass and rounded Abdul-Monsef, who had no alternative but to bring the Angolan striker down.
The referee was lenient in dealing with the unfortunate goalie as he opted to give him just a yellow card.
Spot-kick specialist Shadi stepped-up but his shot was superbly blocked by Abdul-Monsef s stretched hands.
Tunisian defender Wissem El-Abdi almost grabbed the equalizer in the 68th minute when he connected with Shikabala s corner at the far post before heading past the advanced Al-Hadari.
However, his effort was cleared off the line by Shadi s header.
Gamal Hamza, who was introduced instead of the below-par Ali, had another chance ten minutes later when his powerful shot was denied by Al-Hadari.
Zamalek dominated possession in the rest of the clash but failed to make clear-cut chances as Ahly claimed a precious win before facing Libya s Ittihad in the first-leg of the CAF Champions League semi-final.
