Geddo broke the deadlock two minutes past the half-hour mark before Ahmed Fathi doubled the Red Devils' lead 18 minutes from time.

Veteran midfielder Ahmed Hassan came off the bench to complete the rout late in the 85th minute.

Hodoud, whose performance was particularly lackluster, played for over 50 minutes with ten men as Abdul-Rahman Farouk was sent off on 49 minutes for two bookable offences.

Hodoud's Ahmed Abdul-Ghani wasted a penalty kick midway through the first half before the score was opened.

Title holders Ahli are now keeping pace with leaders and arch-rivals Zamalek on 46 points. The latter team have one more game in hand.

Obvious dominance

Ahli were on the lookout for an opener from the very beginning, showing obvious dominance.

The first scoring chance fell to Hossam Ghaly who came from a tight angle near the six-yard box to head a Dominique Da Silva wide headed effort, only to be denied by Hodoud keeper Gharib Hafez.

Former Ahli man Islam Al-Shater came close to slotting an own goal on 13 minutes when Geddo sent a shot that deflected off him towards the goal but missed the target by inches.

Hodoud earned the spot kick when Ahli defender Wael Gomaa was adjudged for a challenge on the edge of the area. Abdul-Ghani's shot went wide of the mark.

Geddo opened the scoring when he sensationally headed a powerful cross from Ahmed Fathi, who eluded a couple of challengers before whipping it in.

Numerical advantage

The dismissal of Hodoud's Farouk gave Ahli a numerical advantage that enabled them to tighten their grip on the match.

Farouk was given his marching orders to have handled the ball either side of the interval.

Egypt skipper Hassan replaced Da Silva, who wasn't at his best, shortly after the break to tangibly support the frontline.

He sent a precise cross that was fiercely headed by Geddo but the latter's effort was inaccurate.

Hassan missed the target by a mile when he volleyed a Barakat diagonal cross but atoned for his embarrassing miss when he scored in a similar fashion, connecting with another cross from Sayed Moawad.

The combative Fathi got his name on the scoresheet with a left-footed shot that deflected off a defender and into the net.

The toothless Hodoud could have pulled one back when Ahli were up by two goals through an inch-perfect free kick from Abdul-Ghani but guardian Ahmed Adel rose to prominence to keep a clean sheet.