Ismaily forward Abdallah Al-Said opened the scoring after six minutes
Ismaily climbed to second in the table after clinching a hard-fought 3-2 victory away to Gouna on Monday.
Abdallah Al-Said gave the Dervishes an early lead after six minutes before the team's Nigerian striking partnership of John Owoeiri (on 48 minutes) and Godwin Ndubuisi (at the death on 90 minutes) secured the points. Ahmed Hassan (on 56 minutes) and Sherif Ashraf (after 90 minutes) managed to close the gap but that proved not to be enough.
Ismaily are now on 34 points, four behind leaders Zamalek who still have a game in hand.
The action started early in the game as Owoeri delivered a perfect cross to Al-Said who executed a well-placed header to open the scoring in the sixth minute.
Afterwards, Gouna gained possession of the ball but couldn’t threaten Mohamed Sobhi’s goal.
The best was yet to come in the second half. Turning from provider to scorer, Owoeiri was set up in the area by Ahmed Samir Farag to slide the ball past Gouna keeper Mohamed Abdel-Monsef and double the lead in the 48th minute.
The hosts reacted through Ahmed Hassan who rose above the defence to convert Ahmed Omran’s cross in the back of the net.
They could have restored parity a minute later but the bar denied Arafa Al-Sayed’s effort.
Gouna - who are in the mire of relegation - produced some excellent attacking football but were wasteful in front of goal as Hassan, Al-Sayed and Chawki Al-Said spurned a host of easy chances.
The game was stopped in the 67th minute as Gouna players claimed a penalty after Hassan was tackled in the area but the referee saw nothing wrong in the challenge.
Relying on their defence, the visitors hit on a counter as Nduibuisi made an excellent run and struck the third in the dying minutes of the game.
There was still more action to come as substitute Sherif Ashraf's goal in injury time ensured a tense end to the game for Ismaily. Gouna maintained pressure as they sought the equalizer but ran out of time.
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