A mediocre round of 16 tie was settled by an ill-fated error from youngster Rami Rabiea, who beat his own keeper to hand ENPPI a deserved win.

The debut victory for new ENPPI boss Mokhtar Mokhtar sends the petroleum side through to face Cairo neighbors Police Union, who edged Petrojet 2-1 on Tuesday.

The result also means that Ahli wave goodbye to the second competition in the space of seven days, following their CAF Champions League group-stage exit last week.

Lucky Ahli

An action-less first half left both goalkeepers with little to do, even though ENPPI were twice denied by the woodwork, with Ahli having most of the possession.

It was as late as the 20th minute when a threat on goal took place at either end as ENPPI’s Mohamed Sobhi broke the offside trap and beat Sherif Ekrami with a fine lob, only to see his effort bounce off the post in agony.

Ahli tried to respond and were relatively dominant in midfield but lacked firepower in the final third, until the woodwork intervened again to save Ekrami six minutes from the break.

A scruffy corner ended up with the ball falling at the mercy of Abdul-Zaher Al-Saqqa inside the six-yard box, but the Egypt international fired against the post from a tight angle.

Killer own-goal

The second half started from where the first one has ended, with Ahli controlling midfield without any threat on Mohamed Abou-Gabal’s goal.

Mokhtar introduced Vincent Die-Foneye after the hour mark and the pacey striker made immediate impact after coming on.

The Ivorian capitalized on the poor positioning of Ahli’s backline after receiving a through pass and going one-on-one with Ekrami, before playing the ball across the goal, only for Rabiea to intervene by blasting into his own net.

Manuel Jose made a triple substitution after the goal, bringing in Walid Soliman, Fabio Junior and Abdullah Al-Saied for Ahmed Shedid, Mohamed Abou-Treika and Mohamed Fadl.

But the Reds remained out of sorts, with the stands almost empty without the usual passion of the Ultras Ahlawy fans.

Debutant Al-Saied had a chance to pull off a memorable equalizer with a freekick in injury time, but the set-piece specialist hit the ENPPI wall.