An Ahly side lacking spark and imagination continued their poor run with a stunning 1-0 defeat by lowly Gouna on Saturday, casting further doubts over their ability to defend the title they won the past seven editions.

The Cairo giants, who are still struggling to cope with the retirement of talismanic playmaker Mohamed Abou-Treika, were undone by a second-half goal from Gouna's Sherif Reda.

Gouna, who were second from bottom before playing their fancied opponents, could have even won by a bigger margins had they converted several goal-scoring opportunities in the latter stages of the game, played on their home soil in a Red Sea resort.

It is Ahly's third loss in their last five matches. They are still second in Group A with 16 points, on level with third-placed Smouha who will leapfrog them if they win their two matches in hand.

The loss to Gouna raises alarm bells among Ahly's backroom staff ahead of Thursday's tough encounter at home to Tunisia's Sfaxien in the African Super Cup.

Few chances

Ahly followed the same pattern of slow tempo movement which has hampered them lately. They struggled for creativity without Abou-Treika and injured winger Walid Soliman, with their forwards aimlessly roaming around the opponents' area.

Chances were at a premium in a first-half littered with too many mis-placed passes but Gouna appeared slightly better, wasting a chance to take the lead on 16 minutes.

Karim El-Daw dispossessed Ahly's Ahmed 'Manga' Nabil and jinked towards the area but his eventual shot flew wide.

Gouna's breakaways unsettled Ahly's shaky backline in the second half, leaving the Red Devils' defenders chasing shadows for long spells.

The opener came from a set piece, however, when an innocuous free kick eluded Ahly's defenders and found Reda, who held off his marker Saad Samir, swiveled and fired home.

Ahly remained on the back foot after falling behind; allowing their opponents to launch repeated counter attacks and expose their defensive frailties.

Islam Mohareb made two forays after riding the challenges of several defenders, one of which saw him go one-on-one with keeper Sherif Ekramy, who blocked his low shot in the 69th minute.

The introduction of youngster Amr Gamal and forward El-Sayed Hamdi did little to improve the sluggish attack of Ahly, whose only chance saw Ahmed Raouf fire straight at the keeper with the goal at his mercy in stoppage time.

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