Marumo eye CAF group stage after beating City

After dispatching fellow CAF Confederation Cup group stage hopefuls Cape Town City 2-1 in a league tie at the weekend, Marumo Gallants mentor Dan Malesela  was confident they would overcome Libyan side  Al Ahli Tripoli.

Marumo won courtesy of Ranga Chivaviro’s double at Peter Mokaba Stadium. City scored via Wayde Lekay. The win was Malesela’s second since returning to the club a few weeks ago.

Marumo now shift their focus to the Confederation Cup play-off battle against Al Ahli, with the first leg billed for Benina Martyrs Stadium in the city of  Benina in Libya tomorrow (7pm SA time). The second leg is at Peter Mokaba Stadium next Wednesday. The winners of this two-legged tie will secure a chance in the group phase of the Confed Cup.

“I always say until you play a team don’t rule yourself out and don’t overrate a team until you play them. We will fight very hard and I am positive about our chances,” Malesela said about facing Al Ahli, who played against Orlando Pirates in last season’s Confed Cup group stages.

He was pleased to collect his second win of the season, acknowledging their performance wasn’t as impressive on the day. Malesela rued the fact that the celebrations were cut short due to their daunting trip to Libya.

“It’s good to have a second win since I came back. It was a very difficult game. I always knew that it was going to be difficult. I think we panicked because of the desperation to try to get three points. You can’t be selfish and say you are not happy with the performance of the boys ... there were mistakes here and there but all in all they worked very hard.

“I feel for my boys because now we have to take a very long trip to Libya but we will manage the situation because this is our job and this is the nature of the game.”

City host Algerian side USM Alger in their own Confed Cup play-off battle at Cape Town Stadium tomorrow (6pm).