Egypt’s Masry earned the advantage of scoring an away goal after holding C.F Mounana to a 1-1 draw in Libreville in the first leg of the African Confederation Cup playoff on Friday.

In a match with few clear-cut chances and littered with mistakes at both ends, Masry silenced the home crowd when they took the lead after 14 minutes.

Robust striker Ahmed Gomaa muscled his way into the area before his shot struck a defender and rolled into his path again to make no mistake with the second attempt, firing home into the bottom corner.

Masry looked composed throughout but were denied a precious win when Mounana made the most of a mistake from goalkeeper Ahmed Masoud to restore parity in the 57^th minute.

Masoud mis-judged a corner to allow Abdou Atchabao to rise and head into an empty net. Mounana almost made it 2-0 shortly afterwards but Masoud blocked a certain goal to make up for his blunder.

Masry were also unlucky not to snatch a win in the dying stages.

Mounana keeper tipped over a powerful shot and left-back Mohamed Hamdi narrowly missed the target with a low shot from inside the area in stoppage time.

The second leg takes place in the Egyptian coastal city of Port Said on 18 April when both sides will vie for a place in the group stage of Africa’s secondary club competition.

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