The visitors went ahead in the 11th minute through Salah Amin 'Maradona', but the Dervishes responded fiercely to the early alert.

Omar Gamal and Mohamed Mohsen Abou-Greisha put the hosts in front with goals in the 31st and 41st minutes respectively.

Promising midfielder Ahmed Khairi ensured Ismaili's superiority with a double salvo on 57 and 71 minutes. Skipper Mohamed Hommos completed the rout 14 minutes from time.

The win, coupled by Ahli's draw in Mahalla, revives Ismaili's title-challenge hopes as they reached 51 points, trailing the Red Devils by a single point, but the latter have a game in hand.

Late Telecom Show

At Green Mountain, Hossam Hassan's Telecom Egypt snatched a dramatic 2-2 draw from Harras Hodoud.

Egypt striker Ahmed Abdul-Ghani gave the vistors a first-half advantage, before Hani Saied doubled the lead in the 80th minute.

But Mohamed Ibrahim scored in the 87th minute to give some hope to relegation contenders Telecom.

Ahmed Gaafar netted his 10th of the season in the fifth minute of injury time to secure the precious point.

Telecom remain third from bottom with 25 points, while Hodoud are fifth on 43.