Ahly scrape Egypt Cup win over second-tier Tersana in Weiler's swansong

Ahram Online , Wednesday 30 Sep 2020

Ahly
Ahly defeat Tersana 2-1 in the Egypt Cup round of 16 (Ahram)

Rene Weiler is likely to have led Ahly for the last game as they scraped a 2-1 victory over second-tier Tersana to reach the Egypt Cup quarters on Wednesday, with the Swiss expected to leave the club on Thursday.

Ahly are set to announce the departure of Weiler as he turned down their offer to stay until the end of their African Champions League, with South African coach Pitso Mosimane likely to be immediately named as his successor.

The Red Devils produced a subdued performance but did enough to overcome Tersana, who were no pushovers as they belied their status. The one-time Egyptian champions are striving to avoid relegation to the third division.

Ahly needed seven minutes to go ahead, with Nigerian forward Junior Ajayi sending a low shot into the bottom corner following an assist from towering Senegalese striker Aliou Badji, who was otherwise a peripheral figure.

Ajayi scored again on 15 minutes, his close-range effort going through the legs of the keeper.

It seemed a goalfest was on the cards but Tersana exposed gaps in Ahly's fragile backline and narrowed the gap three minutes before the break when Ibrahim Mansour sneaked between two defenders to head home at the near post after a free kick was floated into the area.

He wasted a golden chance to equalize when he sent a free header over the bar shortly afterwards.

In the second half, Ahly were largely in control even though they could not kill off the game. But they were not punished for wasting some easy chances to continue their bid to clinch a treble, having already won the Egyptian Premier League.

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