Simba Sports Club narrowly defeated Orlando Pirates on Sunday night to hold the advantage in their CAF Confederation Cup quarterfinal tie.
The Tanzanian hosts won 1-0 in the teams’ first-leg clash at the Benjamin Mkapa Stadium in Dar es Salaam on Sunday night.
South African side Pirates, who are 2015 runners-up of this continental competition, will look to turn the tie around in the second leg on home soil.
Both sides started the clash on a fairly positive note as they both had a few half-chances in the opening few minutes.
Pape Sakho came closest for the Msimbazi Reds with a 17th minute effort that almost troubled Richard Ofori in the hosts’ goals.
The visitors seemed to be taking slight control of the encounter, but not much could be done as chances were seemingly far and few in the first stanza.
Sakho troubled Ofori again five minutes after the restart, and Jonas Mkunde responded with a solid strike five minutes later.
Kwame Peprah started to look more and more threatening as he began to see more of the ball, and almost initiated a great goal when he spotted Deon Hotto with a cross after the hour-mark.
Eight minutes later, Simba took the lead through after a contentious penalty decision after former Orlando Pirates player, Bernard Morrison was brought down in the area. Shomari Kapombe stepped up and calmly dispatched the ball into the back of the net.
Pirates first real threatening effort on goal in the second half came in the 74th minute when Happy Jele fired inches wide of the goal from 24-yards out.
Six minutes later Deon Hotto created another opening for Pirates when his low cross from the left was back-heeled narrowly wide from a couple of yards out by Fortune Makaringe
In the 84th minute Pirates came even closer to finding the equaliser when a left wing cross from Jele was deflected goalwards by right-back Pascal Wawa, but Aishi Manula made a fantastic save to touch the effort onto the post.
Collins Mbesuma should have found the back of the net with three minutes to go when he met a Nonyane cross from the left, but he headed wide under no pressure.
The Sea Robbers continued to push forward in the dying minutes of the game, but Simba held on to ensure they have a strong foothold in the tie.
The return match will be held at the Orlando Stadium next Sunday night. The aggregate winners of the tie will take on one of the Libyan giants Al-Ittihad or Al Ahli Tripoli in the two-legged semi-finals.
