Raja Casablanca made it three group wins from three in the African Confederation Cup on Sunday with a 2-0 win over Pyramids of Egypt.
The Moroccans boast the only 100 percent record among the 16 clubs halfway through the group stage of Africa’s second tier club competition.
A mistake by veteran Egyptian goalkeeper Sherif Ekramy on 15 minutes led to Raja’s opening goal. Instead of allowing a shot to go wide, he tried to grasp the ball which then slipped into the net.
Six minutes later, Democratic Republic of Congo-born Ben Malango raced onto a pass and scored from close range to make it 2-0 to Raja Casablanca over Pyramids in their Group D match.
In the same Group, Nkana of Zambia recovered from surrendering a 64-match unbeaten home record in African club competitions last month by edging bottom side Namungo 1-0 in Dar es Salaam thanks to a late Diamond Chikwekwe goal.
Group B is intriguing with Coton Sport of Cameroon climbing to the top thanks to a 1-0 win at NAPSA Stars of Zambia.
Second-place JS Kabylie of Algeria, a point adrift of Coton Sport, had Malik Raiah sent off on 77 minutes after two yellow cards, but held on for a 0-0 draw at holders Renaissance Berkane of Morocco. Berkane are two points off the top.
Group C remains tight at the halfway stage with only two points separating leaders CS Sfaxien of Tunisia from bottom team Salitas of Burkina Faso.
Three-time Confederation Cup winners Sfaxien forced a 0-0 away draw with fellow Tunisians Etoile du Sahel.
Jaraaf of Senegal overcame Salitas 2-0 in Thies through goals from Albert Diene and Papa Paye before half-time.
Elsewhere, an impressive performance from Anayo Iwuala helped Enyimba of Nigeria beat Entente Setif of Algeria 2-1 in Group A.
Monsef Bakrar gave Setif the early lead with Enyimba captain Austin Oladapo making up for a missed penalty by equalising before half-time. Iwuala then sent up Tosin Omoyele for Enyimba’s winner.
In Benghazi, there were no goals in the first African club match to be played in Libya since 2010 as hosts Al Ahly Benghazi were held 0-0 by South Africa’s Orlando Pirates.
Enyimba have six points at the top of Group A, Orlando Pirates have five, Al Ahly Benghazi of Libya four and Setif one.
African Confederation Cup results Sunday 4 April:
- Group A
- Enyimba (Nigeria) 2-1 ES Setif (Algeria)
- Al Ahly Benghazi (Libya) 0-0 Orlando Pirates (South Africa)
- Group B
- NAPSA Stars (Zambia) 0-1 Cotonsport (Cameroon)
- RS Berkane (Morocco) 0-0 JS Kabylie (Algeria)
- Group C
- Etoile du Sahel (Tunisia) 0-0 Sfaxien (Tunisia)
- Jaraaf (Senegal) 2-0 Salitas (Burkina Faso)
- Group D
- Raja Casablanca (Morocco) 2-0 Pyramids (Egypt)
- Namungo (Tanzania) 0-1 Nkana (Zambia)
