The Red Devils were struggling for fluency throughout the 90 minutes of Tuesday's league match, allowing Gouna to control the match most of the time.

Ahli's injury-hit squad, hot weather and an 'uneven' pitch were cited by Maihoub as reasons for the defending champions' lackluster display.

"The weather was particularly hot and the pitch was uneven because the grass needed to be cut," he told Ahli's official site.

"We also have a lot of players unavailable through injury, so considering these unpleasant circumstances the result is not bad."

Ahli have a number of players unavailable through injury, including Ahmed Al-Sayed, Ahmed Hassan, Sayed Moawad, Mohamed Abou-Treika, Francis Doe and Mohamed Fadl.

Up-and-coming midfielder Shehab Ahmed, who hit Ahli's leveler, also sprained his ankle during the match and is expected to be sidelined for a while.

Gouna are now in 11th place on 10 points while defending champions Ahli are keeping pace with their arch-rivals Zamalek on top of the table with 18.

The Red Devils have one more game in hand.