The Red Devils downed Degla, who played for almost an hour with ten men, 2-1 to narrow the gap on leaders Zamalek.

Ahli were too keen to claim all three points and therefore couldn't put in a good performance, Gomaa believes.

"Our level of performance was not up to scratch," the Egypt veteran told FilGoal.com. "It was obvious that fear ruined our display.

"But after all we are happy to win; this victory is an important step towards the league title."

Defending champions Ahli are in second place with 42 points, one behind their arch-rivals Zamalek who have been topping the league table for months.