Late in the second half, Mayele scored twice, giving the Tanzanian squad what appears to be one leg into the next round.

Piston Mayele’s brace made the difference as Young Africans from Tanzania defeated hosts Rivers United 2-0 at the Godswill Akpabio Stadium, Uyo on Sunday evening during the first leg of the CAF confederations cup quarter-final game.

After a first-half barren draw, Mayele broke the deadlock in the 74th minute before completing his brace seven minutes later to give the Tanzanians an enormous advantage going into the second leg in Dar es Salaam.

Having conceded two goals at home, Rivers United would need to score three goals without a reply in Dar es Salaam next weekend to qualify for the next round.

Nine minutes into the game, Rivers United had the first attempt on goal with Ebube Duru’s cross, wrongly hit by Nwagua Nyima in the opponent’s box.

Yanga FC had their first attempt at goal through a header in the 16th minute from Yannick Litombo, which went past goalkeeper Sochima Victor, but Ukeme Williams cleared the goal-bound chance to a corner. Sochima then saved the attempt thereafter from Stephane Aziz.

Four minutes later, goalkeeper Djigui Diarra’s corner clearance from Ekeocha Lawrence met Kazie Enyinnaya, whose rebound shot was blocked.

The visitors then got another chance to break the deadlock when Fiston Mayele’s splitting pass was received by Aziz Ki, who fired towards the goal but Sochima stretched to save the ball in the 27th minute.

The goalkeeper then saved Mudathiri Abasi’s header in the 43rd minute as both sides played a barren draw in the first half at the Nest of Champions in Uyo.

But the second half had a distinct atmosphere, especially from the visitors who pressured the defence area of the Pride of Port Harcourt.

Nwagua’s header went off target, but Mayele’s header towards Sochima was blocked for a corner in the 71st minute.

Soon after missing the attempt, Mayele broke the deadlock in the 74th minute after receiving a pass from captain Bakari Mwamnyeto, who dribbled past Kazie Enyinnaya before slotting the ball to Sochima’s far left corner. After a VAR check, the goal stood as the Tanzanian nicked a vital away goal.

The striker then doubled the lead in the 81st minute from a counter and calmly slotted the ball past Sochima to give the visitors a second goal and give Rivers United a mountain to climb in the second leg.

During the Nigeria Premier Football League, NPFL matchday 15, five home wins and a draw with a total of 16 goals were recorded in six games.

Shooting Stars and Niger Tornadoes recorded the biggest wins from the six Nigeria Premier Football League fixtures played across the country on Sunday.

The matchday 15 fixtures produced five home wins and a draw with a total of 16 goals scored across the six games.

While Shooting Stars trounced their visitors, Gombe United extended their winning streak to five games, and Tornadoes defeated Abia Warriors in Kaduna to record their first win after three winless matches.

Having played 40 minutes of a barren draw, Shooting Stars broke the deadlock two minutes later with Malomo Taofeek’s strike to send the Warriors into the second half with a goal at hand.

The bad situation got worse for the Savannah Scorpions as they conceded the second goal just two minutes into the second half from Godwin Alao before Douglas Achiv’s header in the 67th minute made it three for the Oluyole Warriors who jumped to the sixth position with 21 points.

In Kaduna, the scoreline was identical even though it was in a different fashion as Niger Tornadoes scored three goals in the second half to defeat Abia Warriors.

A quick-fire brace from Munir Idris in the 54th and 56th minute respectively with David Okoromi’s 76th-minute strike put the Ikon Allah boys in contention for a group B top-three finish with 23 points.

Elsewhere, Sunshine Stars bounced back from last weekend’s defeat to Abia Warriors with a lone-goal win over Lobi Stars at the Akure Township Stadium.

David Onovo scored the only goal of the encounter via a finish to a 23rd-minute corner kick.

While at Gombe, Doma United defeated Bayelsa United 2-1 to jump to the top spot of the abridged group B table with 25 points.

Second-half strikes from Charles Chibuike and Ekawu Hilari in the 53rd and 88th minute respectively helped Doma United record their second consecutive win, however, Bayelsa scored a consolation goal in the 88th minute.

Meanwhile, a 12th-minute goal from Nenrot Silas made the difference during the Northern derby between Plateau United and Nasarawa United at the New Jos Stadium.

In the game that was earlier played, Remo Stars picked a vital away point in Aba against Enyimba in a game that ended 1-1.

The Sky Blue Stars having dropped points against Bendel Insurance at home last Sunday did hold Enyimba who failed to continue their winning streaks at home.

Philip Odubia scored for the visitors in the 43rd minute before a last-minute strike restored parity for the Elephants.

Manchester United will face rivals Manchester City in the FA Cup final after Solly March’s spot-kick miss saw Brighton suffer semi-final shoot-out heartache.

Three days on from their Europa League quarter-final exit to Sevilla, Erik ten Hag’s side found themselves in the familiar position of needing to bounce back from a humiliating loss.

Brighton made United sweat as the south coast club sought to reach just their second FA Cup final, with the semi-final ending 0-0 after 120 minutes at Wembley.

The first 12 penalties of the shoot-out found the net before Albion favourite March blazed over, allowing Victor Lindelof to win it 7-6 and set-up a Wembley return against City.

Roberto De Zerbi’s exciting side had been bookmakers’ favourites in their third FA Cup semi-final appearance and began in the manner onlookers have become accustomed to.

Alexis Mac Allister’s early free-kick was saved by David De Gea, with the under-fire United goalkeeper brilliantly tipping over a Julio Enciso attempt after half-time.

United settled and the match went to extra-time, which also ended goalless meaning the semi-final went to spot-kicks under the arch.

March’s miss was the key moment, with Lindelof striking brilliantly in sudden death as the Carabao Cup winners progressed to a record-equalling 21st FA Cup final.