Ismaily's new coach Emad Soliman has expressed his delight after winning his first match in charge on Monday.

The Dervishes climbed to second in the table after clinching a hard-fought 3-2 victory away to Gouna.

“Our title hopes are still alive after this deserved win,” Soliman was quoted as saying by Ahram's Arabic portal.

Soliman took the charge of the three-time Egyptian champions after the Dutch coach Mark Wotte was fired last week.

“I am happy to secure this win in my first game with the team,” he added.

“My players realised the new strategy [4-4-2 formation] quickly. They were excellent.”

Ismaily will take on Zamalek, the league leaders, next week and Soliman has begun planning for the hotly-anticipated game.

“We will concentrate on correcting the players’ mistakes against Gouna as we are waiting for a very important game with Zamalek,” the coach explained.

Ismaily’s technical staff, headed by Soliman, have decided to fine defender Shady Mohamed and goalkeeper Mohamed Sobhi for clashing with each other during the Gouna game.

“The technical staff have decided to impose the maximum penalty of LE20,000 on both of them,” Ismaily board member Khaled El-Tayeb said.