Al-Asyouty Sport completed a clean sweep of the opening round, beating Gazl El-Mahalla 0:3 in the Premier League's Regular Season - 1 on Friday evening. The visitors took all three points from 6th of July's fixture, leaving the hosts rooted to the bottom of the table with just a single point from three matches. To be fair, the result was never really in doubt from the first whistle.
The visitors opened the scoring at the 41st minute through Odeh Fakhoury, a goal that came after a patient buildup. Gazl had been playing with three men in midfield but could not contain the movement in the final third. And here's the thing — they paid for a sloppy opening, conceding corners and losing second balls with alarming frequency.
Nasser Maher doubled the lead at the 67th minute, capitalising on a defensive error that had been waiting to happen. Two minutes later Maher struck again, this time with a finish that left the goalkeeper with no chance. Gazl made wholesale changes at the 68th minute, bringing on Abdo Yehia and Hazem Mohamed in a desperate attempt to change the complexion of the game. By then, the damage was done.
Mahmoud Zalaka made it 0:3 at the 74th minute, heading home from close range after a corner was not dealt with properly. The hosts had already lost Abdo Yehia to a yellow card in the 5th minute and would see Hazem Mohamed and Amr Gomaa booked as well. Three yellow cards for Gazl compared to one for Al-Asyouty told the story of frustration.
The statistics backed up what the eye test showed. Al-Asyouty held 56 per cent possession and registered four shots on target, while Gazl managed only two on target from their efforts. The visitors won five corners to two and completed 381 passes compared to 272, though the difference in quality was more important than quantity.
Gazl El-Mahalla remain in 20th place with one point from three games, having drawn once and lost twice. Al-Asyouty Sport sit at the top of the table with nine points from three wins, and now hold every card going into the next round. The old head settled them down — you could see it in the way they controlled the tempo after the second goal.