The Cairo side installed the Portuguese tactician for the third time after suffering a string of poor results on all fronts this term.

But Jose couldn't help the Red Devils get back to winning ways as their winless run was extended to two games.

They won only a couple of league matches out of their last nine.

Abou-Treika, who put in one of his finest performances, scored his 100th league goal when he opened the scoring three minutes from the half-hour mark.

However, Sameh Aidaros cut short Ahli's celebration when he restored parity four minutes later.

Emad Meteb made his second competitive debut for Jose's side when he was introduced as a second-half substitute.

However, he didn't live up to expectations, wasting a clear-cut chance in the second period.

Fourth placed Ahli remained six points behind arch-rivals and leaders Zamalek, who were held to a goalless draw by Military Production on Friday.

MCDR lie ninth in the league table with 18 points.

Hosni Lone Striker

Ahli's Osama Hosni was surprisingly deployed as a lone striker and played the whole 90 minutes of the match.

Talismanic playmaker Abou-Treika played a major role in supporting the frontline.

Promising youngster Hussein Ghoneim was fielded as a right back instead of Ahmed Fathi, who's nursing a hamstring problem.

Ghoneim could have hit an early opener when he eluded a challenger to penetrate the area, before releasing a powerful shot that missed the target from an acute angle.

Mercurial midfielder Mohamed Barakat latched onto an Abou-Treika through but was felled in the area to be awarded a spot kick, from which the latter broke the deadlock.

MCDR redeemed themselves right after Ahli's goal and started to attack the visitors, which paid off in no time.

Ahmed Raouf rifled a shot that Ahli keeper Ahmed Adel competently blocked, right before MCRD netted the equalizer.

Aidaros saw his header strike the crossbar but got the ball back following a goalmouth scramble to score from point-blank range.

Pulsating Second Half

Although it witnessed no goals, the second half was by far more pulsating, with both teams looking for a winning goal.

Geddo and Meteb replaced Abou-Treika and Barakat respectively in an attempt to inject zeal.

However, both substitutions allowed MCDR to be superior in midfield, which caused Ayman Kamal to go one-on-one twice with Adel.

His final touch was poor on both occasions though.

Ahli also carved out several scoring opportunities, one of which fell to Meteb whose effort agonizingly went high over from close range.