JOHANNESBURG: Egyptian coast guards club Harras Al-Hodoud sank Simba of Tanzania 5-1 Saturday to reach the African Confederation Cup last-16 stage.
Hodoud were the exception on a day when goals were exceedingly scarce in the second-tier African Football Confederation (CAF) competition with four other fixtures delivering just one.
Title holders Stade Malien of Mali were among seven clubs who fired blanks and a goalless Bamako draw with FUS Rabat of Morocco spelt the end of their reign after a shock success over Entente Setif of Algeria last December.
CS Sfaxien of Tunisia, the only team to successfully defend the six-year Cup, and military-backed outfits Primeiro Agosto of Angola and AS FAN of Niger also advanced to the final qualifying round scheduled to start mid-July.
Ahmed Abdulghani was the Hodoud hat-trick hero in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria with Ahmed Mekki supplying the other two as Simba leaked goals at regular intervals.
Harras wasted no time wiping out a 2-1 first leg deficit from Dar es Salaam two weeks ago with Mekki and Abdulghani scoring inside 12 minutes of the kick-off.
Ugandan Emmanuel Okwi, who opened the scoring in east Africa, brought the teams level on aggregate by converting a penalty but Abdulghani was also successful from a spot kick on the stroke of half-time.
Hopes of a Simba revival were dashed by a second Mekki goal on the hour mark and Abdulghani completed the misery for a Tanzanian club rocked this week by a leadership crisis with his third 13 minutes from full-time.
Petrojet, the other Egyptian challengers for the 660,000-dollar first prize, bowed out after losing 1-0 in Tunisia against renowned African cup campaigners Sfaxien with Chadi Hammami snatching the 82nd-minute winner.
Sfaxien qualified 2-1 on aggregate having drawn in Suez and are among the likeliest sides to succeed Stade Malien, especially as Tunisia have supplied half the six Confederation Cup title holders.
Goalkeeper Lousseni Issa made several superb saves as AS FAN added DC Motema Pembe of the Democratic Republic of Congo to their list of victims with a goalless Kinshasa draw taking them through 1-0 on aggregate.
Primeiro must have hoped for better than 0-0 against Cameroon visitors Cotonsport Garoua in Luanda after building a 2-1 first leg lead away to the 2008 African Champions League runners-up.
CR Belouizdad of Algeria booked a fourth round place Friday and the final two fixtures take place Sunday with Enyimba of Nigeria needing to overcome a 3-0 deficit when they host V Club, another DR Congo challenger.
