TP Mazembe take first-leg lead over SuperSport United in CAF Confederation Cup final
Democratic Republic of Congo giants Tout Puissant Mazembe hold the advantage after the first leg of the 2017 CAF Confederation Cup final following a 2-1 home win over SuperSport United in Lubambashi on Sunday.
SuperSport were arguably the better side but were undone by poor goalkeeping from Ronwen Williams, who allowed a long range shot from Adama Traore to go through him and then failed to deal with an effort for Daniel Adjei to score.
Those goals came either side of a superb strike from SuperSport teenager Sipho Mbule as the South Africans also wasted numerous other opportunities to score more goals.
The return leg will be played in Pretoria next Saturday, when a single goal will be good enough for SuperSport to win the competition for the first time and stop Mazembe from winning back-to-back titles.
The visitors should have been 2-0 up inside 20 minutes as they dominated the opening exchanges.
Striker Bradley Grobler missed a chance when it seemed easier to score as he was presented with a tap-in by Thuso Phala’s fine work on the right wing, but may have been put off by the artificial surface.
Dove Wome then forced a fine save from Ley Matampi in the home goal, and also flashed a shot just wide, before Grobler saw his shot from a scramble in the box stopped on the line.
Mazembe took the lead on 18 minutes with a horror moment for Williams as he tried to punch clear Traore’s shot, but succeeded in only deflecting the ball into the roof of his net.
SuperSport drew level just two minutes into the second period when Mbule’s rocket of a shot from 35 yards beat Matampi for his first career goal.
However, the home side kept pressing and got a second when Williams let Adjei’s shot slip under his body.
It could have been worse for the South Africans, as Mazembe were denied a clear penalty as Dean Furman fouled Solomon Asante in the box, but Algerian referee Mehdi Abid Charef waved away the protests of the home side.
