Ahly make it 11 in a row

CAIRO (GoPharaohs.com) - Egyptian international star Mohamed Aboutraika scored a brace as Al Ahly eased past Kroum 3-0 on Saturday. The reigning champions stay stop with 11 wins in 11, four points clear of Zamalek in second and six points clear of ENPPI in third. Kroum stay bottom.

Mohamed Abdelwahab - filling in for the injured Angolan star Gilberto and likely to make the left-back berth his own after impressing in the African Nations Cup - opened the scoring for Ahly with a drive from distance on seven minutes.

It was not plain sailing for African Club champions Ahly though, who had to rely on the continued good form of Essam El-Hadary to keep Kroum out until Aboutraika’s first goal with 12 minutes remaining, a tap-in from close range. Until that point the Egyptian Premier league basement boys had acquitted themselves well, matching arguably one of the best club sides in the World for much of the game.

With seven of Ahly’s players in the Egypt starting line-up in the African Nations campaign the team looked visibly fatigued, but it was left to one of the tournament stars to seal the win for the Champions-elect.

Midfielder Aboutraika was one of the stand-out players in Egypt’s African Nations triumph and has subsequently been linked with a summer move to Europe, and he put the result beyond doubt with a left-foot strike deep into injury-time.

Ahly have won their first 11 games of the season to continue their remarkable domestic and continental run of form, and have two games in hand on second-placed Zamalek whose new coach Manuel Cajuda gave their supporters a debut 3-0 win over Ittehad on Sunday.