Sudan's Al Merreikh are aiming to reach the group stages for again

Senegalese lower league club Linguere snatched a 3-2 victory over title holders CS Sfaxien of Tunisia on Sunday in the Confederation Cup.

Habib Diop scored four minutes before full-time to give the team from the town of Saint Louis a slender advantage after the third round, first leg qualifier.

Mourchid Ly opened the scoring on nine minutes for Linguere, but Ghanaian Opoku Agyemang equalised soon after and Youcine Jabeur edged the visitors ahead later in the opening half.

Moussa Dembele levelled after 73 mintues to set up a thrilling climax and persistent pressure from the outsiders paid off although the narrow lead is unlikely to prove sufficient when the teams meet again early next month.

Al-Merreikh, home-and-away losers to Sfaxien in the 2007 final, had better luck on the road this weekend as they struck twice during the second half to defeat Highlanders of Zimbabwe 2-0 in Harare.

Badr Eldin Eldoud and Alaa Abdel Zaher were on target for a team packed with Sudanese internationals in a match where VIP enclosure tickets cost 800 million Zimbabwe dollars owing to runaway, six-digit inflation.

Zaher proved a wise substitution by Mohamed Abdallah, who doubles as national coach, scoring just three minutes after replacing veteran striker Haytham Tambal at Gwanzura Stadium.

The cup tie was switched from Bulawayo because no hotel rooms were available for the Omdurman club as the southern Zimbabwe city is hosting an international trade fair.

South Africa league leaders Ajax Cape Town demonstrated strength in depth to overwhelm Mount Cameroon 5-1 at home despite resting several key players ahead of the four-round championship run-in.

Veteran Nathan Paulse and young Mkhanyiseli Siwahla scored twice each and Malawian Russel Mwafulirwa was also on target for Ajax, who were two goals at half-time, while Lianou Djiena converted a late Mount penalty.

Giantkillers US Masseda of Togo claimed another notable scalp as a late first half goal from Akate Gnama brought a 1-0 victory over Esperance of Tunisia, winners of every African club title bar the Confederation Cup.

Masseda overcame a 2-0 first leg deficit in the previous round to eliminate Issia Wazi of the Ivory Coast after launching their first African campaign with a comfortable success against UNB from neighbouring Benin.

Although boasting a line-up full of Tunisian internationals, the 'Blood and Gold' are finding the going unexpectedly tough having squeezed past Moroccan lower league club Rachad Barnoussi on the away-goal rule in the second round.

Dolphin of Nigeria surprised Asante Kotoko of Ghana 2-0 in a Calabar clash of former Confederation Cup runners-up while Vita of DR Congo are well placed having held Astres Douala 0-0 in Cameroon.

Coast Guards, an Egyptian club from the Mediterranean city of Alexandria, also look set to advance having drawn 1-1 in Libya with Al-Akhdar for whom Abdulhamid al-Zidani equalised after Ahmed Abdelmalek opened the scoring.