Africa Sports of the Ivory Coast, South Africa's Wits and
Akwa United from Nigeria won away from home in CAF Confederation Cup
preliminary round first leg matches at the weekend.
Africa Sports defeated Diables Noirs in Brazzaville 2-1
courtesy of a brace by Ange Pacome Dogba Gnagbo, Wits were 3-0 winners at Light
Stars of the Seychelles and 10-man Akwa pipped more experienced V Club Mokanda
1-0 in Pointe Noire.
Wits coach Gavin Hunt said they could have won by a bigger
margin at Praslin.
"We had total domination of this match and we should
have won by a wider scoreline, though we played in difficult conditions with
the hot weather and artificial pitch, which were not in our favour," he
said.
"Our opponents also had good chances to score in the
opening minutes and that could have changed the complexion of the match."
Ajax Cape Town completed an encouraging start for South
African clubs in the competition after they won 2-1 at Angola's Sagrada
Esperenca.
Ajax were ordered to honour this match by the South Africa
Football Association (SAFA) after they earlier withdrew citing concerns over
internal transport arrangements in Angola.
The biggest winners of the weekend in the Confederation Cup
were Al Ittihad of Libya, who thrashed Sonidep from Niger 4-1 in Sfax, Tunisia,
after their home game was moved there because of the lawlessness in Libya.
However, Nigeria's Nasarawa United are walking a tight rope
after they could only manage a 2-1 home win against debutants Generation Foot
of Senegal.
Generation Foot complained about biased officiating,
insisting a late penalty was dubious.
"Our players were not fit, but it will be wrong for
anyone to write us off just because of our narrow win at home," said
Nasarawa coach Kabiru Dogo.
"We will correct our mistakes so as to get a result in
Senegal."
Skipper Emmanuel Makama added: "It was not an easy
game. We will double our efforts for the next game."
A 2-0 loss by Bandari at Eloi Lupopo of DR Congo completed a
miserable weekend on the continent for Kenyan clubs after Gor Mahia lost 2-1 to
CNaPS of Madagascar in Nairobi in the Champions League.
Police of Rwanda, Gagnoa from the Ivory Coast and Morocco's
Kawkab Marrakesh enjoyed decent home wins in their respective preliminary round
first leg matches.
The return leg matches in Africa's second-tier club
competition will be played on the weekend on February 26-28.
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