A trademark stoppage-time goal from veteran striker Emad Meteb earned Ahly a hard-fought 1-0 home victory over El-Entag El-Harby in the Egyptian Premier League on Sunday.

With the match seemingly heading towards a scoreless stalemate, substitute Meteb headed the winner in the sixth minute of injury time, in what has become a tradition for the ex-Egypt striker to settle ties in the dying minutes.

The Reds registered their second straight win after leaking points against leaders Maqassa and Wadi Degla to climb four spots into fourth with 19 points, one ahead of holders and arch rivals Zamalek who snatched a last-gasp 2-2 draw against leaders Maqassa on Saturday.

Maqassa lead the table with 23 points but they played three matches more than Ahly and Zamalek. 

Last-gasp Meteb winner

A dreary first half did not witness much of major chances for either side, with the first opportunity of the game coming from ex-Ahly striker Mohamed Fadl who headed high over the bar in the seventh minute.

Despite dominating the midfield, Ahly struggled to threaten the opponents' goal, with another former Ahly man in Shehab Ahmed was involved in the major highlight of the half seven minutes from the break.

An excellent shot from the midfielder was agonizingly denied by the woodwork, with the ball looking beyond the reach of Ahly keeper Sherif Ekramy who dived at full stretch.

It seemed as if Ahly have felt the danger, and it was just a minute later when lead marksman Malick Evouna beat ex-Zamalek defender Mahmoud Fathallah in a running battle to burst into the box before missing from a tight angle.  

Ahly looked energized after the break, with Moemen Zakareya's low strike from inside the box going wide just five minutes into the second half.

Right after seeing a misguided clearance from defender El-Sayed Farid narrowly miss his own goal, Entag keeper Amir Abdel-Hamid came to his side's rescue to thwart an Evouna header from the ensuing corner on 77 minutes.

Abdallah El-Saied then struck a free kick from a golden position towards keeper Abdel-Hamid with six minutes remaining.

But the good news came shortly after Meteb's curling strike from outside the box had missed the target by inches in the last minute of regular time.

The 32-year-old hitman guided El-Saied's cross from the right towards the far corner, beating ex-Ahly goalie Abdel-Hamid to give his side all three points.

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