Al-Ahly Held to 1-1 Draw by Mountain Wolves at Arab Contractors Stadium

Arab Contractors refused to bow to the giants. Under the lights at Arab Contractors Stadium, the Mountain Wolves dug in, struck first, and clung to a 1-1 draw that left Al-Ahly frustrated and bruised in the Egyptian Premier League.

Islam Gaber lit up the night with a 38th-minute penalty, stunning the visitors. Ahmed Sayed "Zizo" answered from the spot early in the second half, but a disallowed goal and a serious injury turned what could have been a routine Al-Ahly win into a chaotic, draining contest.

Mountain Wolves bite first

Al-Ahly started as if they meant to settle it early. They pushed the hosts back, kept the ball, and fired the first warning when Soufiane Bendebka dragged a shot wide from distance. Zizo then whipped in a vicious corner, only for the Arab Contractors back line to stand firm and clear.

For all that early pressure, real chances refused to appear. The game drifted, tense but toothless, until the 20th minute. Then came the first real jolt: Arab Contractors broke through, and only Amr El-Gazzar’s intervention stopped the opener after a striker burst clean in on goal.

That scare woke the Mountain Wolves up. They grew into the contest, started to stretch Al-Ahly, and forced mistakes. The breakthrough arrived from the spot. Omar Kamal Abdelwahed fouled inside the area, the referee pointed immediately, and Gaber stepped up with ice in his veins, drilling home in the 38th minute to hand Arab Contractors a shock lead.

Al-Ahly tried to respond before the interval. Deep into stoppage time, El-Gazzar rose to meet a cross and should have levelled, but his header flashed wide. The whistle went with the Mountain Wolves still ahead, their single, clean strike separating the sides.

Injury blow, equaliser and a goal wiped away

The second half exploded almost at once, and not in the way Al-Ahly wanted. Just four minutes after the restart, disaster struck: El-Gazzar suffered a serious injury and had to leave the pitch in the 49th minute, a cruel twist for a player who had been central to Al-Ahly’s best moments.

Al-Ahly tried to respond by forcing the tempo. Mohamed Beker nearly unlocked the defence with a pass aimed at Achraf Bencharki inside the box, but he overhit it and the chance slipped away. The pressure kept building, though, and Bencharki soon forced the key moment.

Driving at the Arab Contractors defence, Bencharki weaved past challenges and surged into the area, where Khaled Abdelfattah brought him down with a heavy, reckless challenge in the 55th minute. The referee again pointed to the spot.

Zizo took responsibility. Two minutes later, he buried the penalty, levelling at 1-1 in the 57th minute and dragging Al-Ahly back into the game.

The momentum swung sharply. Just a minute after the equaliser, Emam Ashour stepped onto the pitch for his first appearance in 112 days, his last outing for the Reds having come against Al-Masry at the end of the 2025/2026 league campaign. His return lifted the away end and injected fresh energy into midfield.

The pressure finally told on the scoreboard — or so Al-Ahly thought. In the 62nd minute, Beker struck what looked like a huge second goal for the Reds, only for celebrations to be cut short as the referee ruled it out for offside. The Mountain Wolves breathed again and clung to their draw.

Ashour almost writes the script

After that disallowed goal, the contest cooled. Both sides probed, neither wanted to over-commit. Al-Ahly pushed the ball around, Arab Contractors stayed compact and disciplined, and the game settled into a wary rhythm.

The tension never really left, though, and it almost broke in the 88th minute. Ashour, back after 112 days out, found space and unleashed a superb effort that skimmed just centimetres over the Arab Contractors crossbar. It was the chance to kill the match. It just refused to dip.

Arab Contractors held on to their point, a result that will feel like a statement for the Mountain Wolves and a missed opportunity for Al-Ahly. In a title race where every dropped point matters, how long can the Reds afford nights like this?