Al Ahly’s winning run came to an end as they were held to a 1-1 draw by Smouha in the 18th fixture of the Egyptian Premier League.
Smouha started on the front foot, when they nearly broke the deadlock just eight minutes into the game. Mohamed El-Shennawy pulled off an excellent double save to deny Hossam Hassan and Mohamed Talaat’s efforts.
The Reds responded in the 13th minute, when Mohamed Magdy Afsha’s cross was met by Ahmed El-Sheikh, whose powerful header missed the target by a narrow margin.
Both teams failed to create further threats until the referee blew the fulltime whistle.
The Alexandrian side took the lead in the 70th minute, when Youssef Diop tried his luck from a long way out with a powerful screamer that nestled into the top corner leaving El-Shennawy helpless.
Five minutes later, the Reds suffered another blow as they were reduced to 10 men after Rami Rabia was shown a red card for a handball.
In the dying moments of the game, the Red Devils were awarded a penalty kick after Mohamed Koffi handled the ball inside the box, to receive a red card. Amr El-Sulaya sent the ball home from the spot to level things up.
Following the draw, Al Ahly remain on top of the league table with 49 points ahead of their encounter against ENPPI on the 14th of March. Meanwhile, Smouha sit third with 25 points before hosting Arab Contractors on the 16th of March.
