A plucky ASAC Concorde of Mauritania held Esperance of Tunisia to a 1-1 draw in a CAF Champions league preliminary round first leg match on Saturday afternoon.

Esperance went to the clash as the clear favourites but the much feared African club football giants was a pale shadow and had to make the late breakthrough to grab a crucial away goal.

In a cagey opening, in which neither side was prepared to risk too much, there were plenty of midfield exchanges, but nothing much to cheer about. Goalkeepers Boubakar Traore for Concorde and Esperances’ Ben Cherifia had to deal with a few half-chances, but nothing that was overly stressful.

Abdou M’bareck,playing his first match for the Mauritania league champions found himself in the clear early on, but was foiled by a good block tackle from Chamman.

At the other end, Macheni Badri and Jouini tried to make things happen, but the Concorde defence handled both attempts quite comfortably.

But Concorde took the lead in the 26th minute when Abeid M’bareck slotted a wonderful strike into the net. The Nouakchott side then had two opportunities to increase their advantage, but Ben Cherifia saved from Saidou Barry and Traore Mohamed drilled a shot that flew agonisingly across the goal.

The action remained tight and compact in the second half, with Concorde making a change in defence.In the 68th minute, Esperance responded as lone striker Jouini found space in the box and drilled the ball into the net.

 

Djribil should have handed Concorde the win with five minutes remaining when he had a clear sight of goal, but chose to pass instead of shoot and Esperance were able to scramble the ball clear.

Espérance XI: Ben Chérifia- Derbali, Chammam, Dhaouadi, Macheni- Coulibaly, Kom- Badri, Bguir, Bessghaier- Jouini.

ASAC XI: Boubacar Touré , Samaké , Youba Zeïdane , Rachid Sid’Ahmed , Touré Mohamed , Djibril Diop , Abdou M’bareck El ID , El Hadj Niang , Mohamed M’bareck , Saïdou Amadou Barry , Amadou Sané.