Ahly's poor showing in the Egyptian league continued as they were held to a goalless draw by Ittihad of Alexandria at Cairo stadium on Tuesday.

The African champions suffered two consecutive defeats, bounced back with a narrow win against Ghazl El-Mahalla but they failed to start a winning run against Ittihad on Tuesday.

Ahly, missing a reliable offense, were easily contained by the defensive-minded Ittihad of Alexandria, who were happy to keep a clean sheet as they haven't lost a match this season.

The first chance to score came from the visitors in the second minute of the game, but Alaa Kamal's 20-meter shot was denied by Ahly's keeper Sherif Ekramy.

It was the first and the last chance for Ittihad.

On the other hand, Ahly failed to create any goal-scoring opportunities during the first half, but a fired one in the 57th minute of the game when the recently-signed Ahmed Raouf was close to score his maiden match but his close-range shot was denied by Itttihad's keeper Ali Farag.

Farag shined again in the 70th minute when he denied another close-range shot from substitute El-Sayed Hamdi.

Coach Mohamed Youssef, who was under fire since Ahly's two recent defeats, tried to intensify his attack by introducing forward Amr Gamal and Burkinabe forward Moussa Yedan at the expense of defensive midfielder Mahmoud "Trezeguet" Hassan and defender Mohamed Naguib, but the coach's intervention failed to result in a score.

Following to Tuesday's draw Ahly still moved to the top of  group A with 16 points, one ahead of second placed Arab Contractors, who have a match on hand, while Ittihad of Alexandria secured fourth place with 12 points.

Arab Contractors faces El-Entag El-Harby on Wednesday.  

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