Al Ahly coach, Pitso Mosimane, has said his players showed character to beat Al Ittihad Alexandria Club 2-1 on Thursday evening.

“We had a good game against Al Ittihad. We scored two goals and we were able to add more goals. We played good games in the previous period but we failed to win them so it is an important victory,” the South African told the club’s website. 

“When we were 2-0 up, we had much confidence and went forward and scored the third but it was disallowed.” 

The win saw Al Ahly move to within four points of leaders Zamalek who have 44 points from 20 games.

The leaders Zamalek beat Smouha 2-1 also on Thursday evening.

The league defending champions, Al Ahly, have 40 points from 18 games.

Mosimane has since said he was planning for grueling matches against Zamalek (local league) and Mamelodi Sundowns in the CAF Champions League.

“Yasser played a good game and we didn’t need to take him out. However, Ayman needed to take some playing time to prepare him for the upcoming decisive matches against Zamalek and Mamelodi Sundowns,” he said. 

The win on Thursday came as a relief for Mosimane who has been under pressure after losing 1-0 to Ghazl El Mahalla on Monday night.