Al Ahly eased the pressure on coach Pitso Mosimane after beating El Masry 1-0 on Sunday.

Ahmed Abdelkader’s strike at Al Ahly WE Salam Stadium was enough to steer Al Ahly into the round of 16 of Egyptian Cup.

The win came amid pressure Mosimane has been subjected to following their 2-0 loss to Wydad Casablanca in the CAF Champions League final last month.

In a post-match interview, Al Ahly assistant coach Sami Komsan described the win as deserved considering that they were without key players.

“We faced a good team, who have a great coaching staff and a lot of technically gifted players,” he told Al Ahly website.

“We made use of Sunday’s game to prepare several players like: Mohamed Mahmoud, Hossam Hassan, Ahmed Nabil “Koka”, and Karim Fouad for the rest of the season.”

“We also gave the chance to Mahmoud Metwally and Badr Benoun for the first time after recovering from their injuries.”

Al Ahly were without regulars such as Hamdy Fathi, Percy Tau, Mohamed Abdelmonem, Ali Lotfy, Luis Miquissone and Walid Soliman due to several reasons including injuries.