Egyptian side Smouha slumped to a 1-0 defeat at Zambia's Zesco United in their opening group-stage clash of the African Confederation Cup on Saturday as pressure increases on under-fire coach Moemen Soliman.

The visitors were undone by a second-half penalty from Jesse Were as they made a disappointing start to their Group C campaign.

Angola's Recreativo Desportivo do Libolo face Sudan's Hilal Obeid in the other group game on Sunday.

Smouha were hoping to make up for a recent poor run in the Egyptian Premier League, which saw them fail to win any of their last five matches, and they looked on course to securing an away draw.

Chances were few and far between in the first half but the second half was more exciting, with both sides going close to opening the scoring.

David Odhiambo sent a free header over the bar following a corner early in the second period and Smouha's Islam Mohareb had a curling shot that grazed the outside of the bar after cutting inside his marker on 65 minutes.

But a reckless handball by Smouha defender Patrick Malo gifted Zesco a penalty and Were made no mistake from the spot on 72 minutes to condemn the Egyptians to an opening defeat.

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