In a thrilling game at Ghazl El Mahalla Stadium, the Red Eagles secured a thrilling 3-2 victory over Ghazl El Mahalla in Matchday 5 of the Egyptian Premier League.
We managed to take a 2-0 lead in the game, thanks to Afsha’s and Percy Tau’s efforts. However, our opponent managed to come back with the result, before Ali Maaloul's winning goal in the dying moments of the game.
First Half
The first half kicked off with frontline pressure from our players, as we were searching to break the deadlock early.
In the 8th moment of the match, the ball touched El Mahalla’s Yehia Hamed’s hand inside the box. However, the referee did not award us a penalty despite checking the VAR.
Two minutes later, Afsha found the back of the net and gave us a 1-0 lead. A poor clearance from El Mahalla’s defense found Amr El Soulia’s head, who then sent the ball to Badr Benoun inside the box.
Our Moroccan’s shot was blocked by the goalkeeper and then the ball reached Mohamed Sherif. Using his brilliant skills, Sherif passed the ball to Afsha who opened the score for us.
El Mahalla’s players tried to equalize and in the 14th minute, Mohamed El Shenawy saved a dangerous ball, as he blocked Himid Mao’s efforts away.
Minutes went on and both teams had several chances, but neither of them managed to convert their chances to goals.
In the 27th minute, Afsha was close to putting his name again on the game’s score sheet, but his shot was blocked by the opponent’s keeper Amr Shaban.
We kept our pressure and before the halftime whistle, we missed another dangerous scoring chance.
El Soulia sent a long ball to Tau who made use of El Mahalla’s keeper mistake and tried to convert it into the net, but his shot went away to a goal kick.
Second Half
The second half kicked off and we were searching to add another goal. Four minutes into the second half, Tau doubled the score with a beautiful goal.
Our winger sprinted from the right flank towards the opponent’s box. Tau then dribbled past two defenders with a staggering feint, before smashing the ball into the bottom corner to give us a 2-0 lead.
Minutes went on and against the flow of the game; El Mahalla’s Abdo Yehia scored his team’s first goal in the 57th minute.
In the 72nd minute, Pitso Mosimane, Al Ahly's head coach, made his first substitution in the game, replacing Mohamed Sherif with Hossam Hassan.
One minute after entering the pitch, Hassan left the game injured due to a challenge from El Mahalla’s player, so Luis Miquissone joined the game instead of him.
Mosimane used his bench once again in the 85th minute when Ahmed Abdelkader and Hussien El Shahat entered the field instead of Tau and Afsha.
With a fresh pair of legs, Abdelkader was close to scoring the third goal, but his efforts hit the woodwork.
El Shahat delivered a brilliant pass from the right flank to Abdelkader, who fired an exquisite first-time shot, but unfortunately, it hit the bar.
The hosts had several chances in the final minutes of the game, and they managed to equalize the score in the 94th minute, after the opponent’s header hit Akram Tawfik, and then the ball changed its direction towards El Shenawy’s net.
Our players then kept pushing forward to score the winner, and in the final seconds of the game, we were awarded a free-kick at the edge of the opponent’s box.
Maaloul stood behind the ball, and then he fired a strong shot. The ball changed its direction after hitting the wall and reached the back of the net to gift us three important points away from home.
