The Red Eagles were held to a 1-1 draw by Ismaily in Alexandria on Wednesday night in the Egyptian Premier League.

Mohamed Sherif, Al Ahly’s striker, put the Champions in front after 22 minutes while Ismaily’s Fakhereedine Ben Youssef equalized in the second half.

Opportunities were few and far in the opening minutes of the game despite a complete dominance from Al Ahly players.

The first clear chance in the game came via Junior Ajayi, after 19 minutes but his shot went off target after being tackled by the goalkeeper.

Three minutes later, Ali Maaloul, Mohamed Magdy Afsha, and Mohamed Sherif combined well on the counter. Maaloul sent a perfect pass using his weak right foot but it reached Afsha. Afsha received the ball and sent a beautiful pass to Sherif, who put the ball in the back of the net.

Al Ahly lost Sherif five minutes from half-time after the player suffered a pain in his hamstring muscle, forcing him to leave the pitch to be replaced by Walter Bwalya.

Al Ahly returned for the second half aiming to add the second goal to kill the game. Bwalya had an early chance in the second half after dribbling the goalkeeper but the ball was cleared by Ismaily’s defender.

In the 60th minute, the game was stopped as the referee checked the VAR for a potential penalty for Ismaily but the penalty was denied as Aliou Dieng, Al Ahly’s midfielder, was tackled in the build-up of Ismaily’s attack.

Pitso Mosimane used his bench again as Hamdy Fathy replaced Junior Ajayi to add more power to the midfield.

In the 65th minute, Ismaily equalized through Ben Youssef’s header.

With intention of restoring the lead, Mosimane made two substitutions, with Aliou Dieng and Hussein El Shahat leaving the game for Taher Mohamed Taher and Salah Mohsen.

Taher had a clear chance to score when he had the ball but his shot missed the target.

Al Ahly pushed for a late winner but were not sharp in front of the goal until the final whistle.

Soka25east.com