Egypt's Maqassa made a convincing debut in their CAF Confederation Cup campaign after proving too strong for Ethiopia's Defence Force in a 3-1 away victory in the first leg of the preliminary round on Saturday.

Hussein Ragab opened the scoring after nine minutes and Amr Barakat made it 2-0 on the stroke of halftime.

Striker El-Sayed Hamdi added the third with five minutes remaining before Defence Force netted a consolation in the dying minutes.

Maqassa will be overwhelming favourites to advance to the next round when they host the Ethiopian outfit in the second leg on 27 February.

Ehab Galal's men finished fourth in the Egyptian Premier League last season for their best-ever top-flight position. They are also having a superb run this term as they lie third with 31 points from 17 games.

(For more sports news and updates, follow Ahram Online Sports on Twitter at @AO_Sports and on Facebook at AhramOnlineSports.)