Ahly s Ali Maaloul celebrates scoring a penalty against Aswan in the Egyptian Premier League (Photo: Ahly s official Twitter account)
The Tunisian left-back tucked away the penalty after 17 minutes as Ahly produced a workmanlike display for their second win in as many games after they kicked off their campaign with a 1-0 victory over Ismaily last week.
The win will boost Ahly's morale before they meet perennial Cairo rivals Zamalek in the Egyptian Super Cup on Friday.
Aswan, who spent big in the close season to bolster their squad after sealing promotion to the top flight, remain without any points after they also suffered an opening 1-0 loss to Ittihad of Alexandria.
Ahly were awarded a penalty on the quarter-hour mark when Aswan keeper Amr Hossam charged out of his goal and clattered into Shady Hussein as the striker chased a pinpoint long ball from Magdi Afsha.
Spot-kick specialist Maaloul fired down the middle to give Ahly the lead.
The lively Hussein, who scored Ahly's winner in the opening victory over Ismaily, also went close with a powerful shot on the turn from the edge of the area.
Despite the Red Devils' dominance, Aswan could have evened things up when Gabonese striker Malick Evouna, an ex-Ahly man, forced a superb save from keeper Mohamed El-Shennawi with a stinging volley from inside the area.
At the other end, Ahly winger Hussein El-Shahat missed a sitter when he was released by a defence-splitting pass from Ahmed Abdel-Kader, only to fire straight at the keeper from a narrow angle.
The second-half was slow-tempo affair as Ahly eased off while Aswan failed to really threaten, apart from a curling effort by Ahmed Belhadji that El-Shennawi clawed away.
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