كتب : Omar AbdelAziz
The home side seemed coasting to victory with a 76th minute strike from Kamal Ali, but a quickfire double by Hassan Mostafa and Ahmed Gaafar in injury time turned things in favor of Zamalek.
League leaders Zamalek maintain their six-point lead over second-placed Ahli, while Petrojet remain sixth.
3 subs, missed penalty
Abdul-Wahed Al-Sayed regained the captain’s armband after he was stripped of it in last week’s win over Harras Hodoud for disciplinary reasons.
Petrojet were dealt an early blow as youngster Mohamed Ragab, the scorer of the only goal in last week’s draw at Ismaili, was forced off after just 15 minutes with a hamstring injury.
Helmi Toulan surprisingly made another substitution before half time, bringing on Mohamed Ibrahim for Ahmed Felix, only for Hossam Hassan to reply by introducing Hussein Yasser for Alaa Ali.
Before going off, Ali was guilty of missing the best chance of an action-less first half on 29 minutes when his attempted chip shot went horribly high of the bar.
The half time was looming and a goalless draw seemed a fair result, but Shikabala earned a clever penalty in the second minute of injury time, following a slight touch from Mohamed Shaaban.
Referee Mohamed Abbas initially waved play on before pointing to the spot upon the signal of his assistant Ayman Degeish.
Mahmoud Fathallah stepped in, sent Ibrahim Abdul-Gawad the wrong way, only to see his fine spot kick bounce off the right post.
Crazy finale
Both teams looked slightly conservative after the break, but a frantic 66th minute sent a warning note to Zamalek, starting with Koffi Bekoe’s header off the post.
The ball swiftly went to Zamalek sub Abou Kone, who sliced his effort wide, before Shaaban replied immediately with a powerful shot that was parried by the fingertips of Abdul-Wahed.
Ten minutes later, Petrojet struck again, but this time Abdul-Wahed could do nothing to save Ali’s volley from close range, following an exquisite cross from substitute Ibrahim.
Shikabala almost leveled things two minutes later, but his effort went agonizingly wide as the match tempo was increasingly on the up.
Petrojet hit the post once again ten minutes from the end, with substitute Marawan Mohsen the unlucky man this time.
The 90th minute came and Petrojet was about to hand Zamalek their first defeat since August 2010, but midfielder Mostafa scored a priceless equalizer in the second minute of injury time.
Mostafa, an unlikely source of goals, hit an empty net after goalkeeper Abdul-Gawad came out to attempt an unsuccessful punch to a Shikabala freekick before Fathallah had a shot blocked.
In the 95th minute, Gaafar completed the fightback when he headed home Shikabala’s superb cross to send the Zamalek bench into raptures.