Asec's Doumbia Mamadou wins a header against Kotoko's Koto

Asante Kotoko scraped through to the second round of the African Champions League after being held to a goalless draw by Ivorian champions Asec Mimosas in Kumasi on Sunday.

Kotoko thus go through on the away goal ruling, after the two teams drew 1-1 in the first leg in Abidjan.

The Ghanaian champions looked out of sorts in a disappointing game, with Asec striker Alhassan Koivogui proving a constant threat to a less-than-impressive Kotoko defence.

The tie became more physical in the second half with six players going into the referee's notebook for dangerous play.

Asec striker Vincent Die Foneye thought he had scored a crucial goal in the 73rd minute, but his strike was disallowed by referee Pierre Lassina for an infringement.

Kotoko came close to scoring themselves with ten minutes remaining but Frank Osei blasted over from six yards.

Asec's first round exit left their coach Patrick Liewig fuming at the disallowed goal.

"I'm proud of my players but I can't understand why our goal was disallowed," he said.

Meanwhile, Malik Jabir, Kotoko's technical head, expressed his relief over the result.

"The game was very tough," he noted.

"Asec gave us a good team, but the important thing is we've qualified."

Fellow Ghanaian side Accra Hearts of Oak also made it through to the next round of the Champions League after drawing 1-1 against Aviacao in Angola.

Hearts won the first leg 4-1 and thus go through 5-2 on aggregate.

South Africa's Orlando Pirates thumped Saint Michel of the Seychelles 5-1 to register an 8-3 aggregate victory, while Ivorian side Africa Sports beat Togolese side Douanes 1-0 in Abidjan.

Paul Eric Dagb�i scored Africa Sports' only goal after 42 minutes to wrap up a 5-1 aggregate victory.

In Senegal, Jeanne d'Arc registered a narrow victory over Morocco's Raja Casablanca.

The Moroccans, who won the 2003 Caf Cup, thus exit the Champions League in the first round.

Raja led Jeanne d'Arc 2-0 from the first leg, but a 2-0 defeat in Senegal resulted in a penalty shoot-out which the home side won 5-4.

Cameroon's Canon Yaounde secured their berth into the second round after drawing 1-1 with the Democratic Republic of Congo's Vita in Kinshasa.

Mathieu Ndenga opened the scoring for the Cameroon side after 32 minutes, and Patrick Mungunu's last-minute equaliser was too little too late for the Congolese side who exited the competition with a 4-1 aggregate defeat.