- Yanga beat Gallants 2-0 in Dar es Salaam
- They only need to avoid defeat in the return tie to qualify for a first ever final
- USM Alger and Asec Mimosas played to a barren draw
Yanga’s dream of becoming the first ever Tanzanian club to play in a continental club final took a step in the right direction after they beat South Africa’s Marumo Gallants 2-0 in Dar es Salaam in the first leg of the CAF Confederation Cup.
Goals from Stephan Aziz Ki and substitute Bernard Morrison were enough for Yanga who now only need to avoid defeat in the return tie in south Africa next week to book their historic place in the final.
Head coach Nasreddine Nabbi was delighted with the victory, but has cautioned that the job is not yet done.
“I am happy with the win but not entirely happy with the performance. There are some areas that I feel we didn’t do well. WE might have won 2-0, but the work is not yet done. We still have a difficult second leg and we need to keep our focus on,” said the tactician.
His opposite number Dylan Kerr was distraught at the defeat, especially the second goal, but says they will fight till the end.
We had a chance at 1-0
“At 1-0 maybe we had a good chance getting into the second leg. 2-0 makes it a bit tougher but we will fight to give ourselves a chance. I feel we should have managed the game better. We conceded at a time when we were dominating and that threw us off balance a bit. But we will try rectify where possible and give our all in the return leg,” said the former Simba SC coach.
Burkina Faso international Ki scored just a few minutes after Gallants had chances go begging while Morrison drove the final nail in the first of added minutes, setting them a foot ahead heading into next week’s return fixture.
Ki slammed the ball into the roof of the net after Tuisila Kisinda had done well with a break on the right before dragging back a cross to the edge of the six-yard area for his teammate to finish.
Just before that, Gallants had seen a flurry of chances fail to find the back of the net.
Started second half better
They had started the second half faster off the blocks. Four minutes in, a defensive lapse had seen Katlego Otladisa find space on the left, but his shot hit the side netting.
Dangerman Ranga Chivaviro had two close chances, both going begging. In the 55th minute, he was sent through on goal by a brilliant Lucky Mohomi backheel, but his shot went wide.
Two minutes later, he had another effort when he went through on goal from the right, but his low shot was kept out by Yanga keeper Djigui Diarra.
For the missed chances, they were punished in the 63rd minute. Fiston Mayele would have sealed the win three minutes to time, but his lobbed effort came off the crossbar.
He however made the assist for the second goal when he sent Morrison through on goal off a counter. Morrison had seen his first effort saved by the keeper, but the Ghanaian bounced back up to squeeze the ball into the net from a tight angle.
Mayele had been a threat especially in the first half when he had several chances go begging.
He had three shots at goal in the opening 25 minutes, all saved by Gallants’ Zimbabwean keeper Washington Arubi.
Gallants thought they had scored a goal in the 33rd minute, but Chivaviro’s strike was ruled out for offside.
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