The victory cemented Ahli's position on top of the Egyptian League table with 45 points, 13 clear of second-placed Petrojet, who face Egypt Telecom on Sunday.

Al-Hadari, who has been Ahli's first-choice keeper since 1996, moved to Swiss side Sion without the Egyptian champions' approval, apparently invoking a FIFA rule to leave.

Ahli fans used to chant for the outstanding goalie but today they took a clearly different approach.

They held a banner that read: "Hadari, go to hell" and repeatedly cheered for stand-in keeper Amir Abdul-Hamid.

Abdul-Hamid blocked an early threat from Ghazl Mahalla striker Abdul-Hamid Shabana to get huge applause from the visiting fans.

After seven minutes, Shabana collected a short pass inside the area, spun around to escape his marker before firing a powerful shot which was denied by Abdul-Hamid.

Ahli were lackluster in a dull first-half, making just one attempt through Ahmed Fathi's powerful drive five minutes before halftime.

Ahli's below-par striker Emad Meteb once again failed to justify Manuel Jose's faith in him, failing to mount any kind of a threat.

In the second period, Mahalla could have opened the scoring on a couple of occasions.

A deft through pass released Shabana, who ghosted behind Emad Al-Nahhas to go clear but his low effort went poorly wide of the post.

Ahmed Al-Malla came close 13 minutes from time but his free header narrowly missed the target.

Angolan striker Flavio came to Ahli's rescue deep into stoppage time when he connected with Mohamed Barakat's pinpoint cross at the far post to head home.