SuperSport reach CAF Cup play-offs

JOHANNESBURG: A late Thabo Mnyamane brace gave SuperSport United of South Africa a 2-1 home victory over Petro Atletico of Angola Friday and secured a CAF Confederation Cup play-offs place.

The Pretoria club, runners-up to TP Mazembe of the Democratic Republic of Congo in the secondary African club competition last season, won the last-32 tie 2-1 on aggregate.

SuperSport will discover next Wednesday which CAF Champions League last-32 loser they must face home and away during April for a group-phase place. Petro went ahead after 50 minutes when defender Elia Martins scored at the third attempt after two close-range pokes were parried by goalkeeper Ronwen Williams. It was a fortunate goal for the Luanda outfit as TV replays showed at least two Petro players were offside when the free-kick that led to the goal was taken. SuperSport needed to score twice under the away-goal rule to survive and Mnyamane atoned for several wasted chances by coming to the rescue at Lucas “Masterpieces” Moripe Stadium. Both goals were created by SuperSport captain Dean Furman and came within five minutes of each other to the relief of a crowd confined to the main stand by torrential rain.