BY MONICA IHEAKAM
MFON Udoh scored a hat-trick to nudge Eniymba International FC of Aba closer to the League stage as the Peoples Elephant crushed Etoile du Sahel of Tunisia 3-0 in Port Harcourt.
Udoh opened the score sheet after nine minutes of play from the penalty spot and doubled the lead in the 55th minutes through a close range pass from Dare Ojo and completed his hat-trick in the 80th minutes to give Enyimba a healthy advantage ahead of the return leg in Tunisia.
Etoile played the last 19 minutes of the match with 10 men after Ghazi Abderazek was given a second yellow card for dissent and was sent off.
The Port Harcourt victory for the Peoples Elephnat , places Udoh as the top scorer in the CAF champions league with 7 goals so far. The over all winner of the tie will progress to the group stage and the last time Enyimba played in the champions league group stage was in 2011.
Meanwhile, DR Congo’s AS Vita Club beat visiting Mamelodi Sundowns of South Africa 1-0. The only goal of the game was scored in injury time at the end of the game as Morrison was once again given too much time. While his shot was well saved by Onyango his parry fell to Kule Mbombo, who scored.
Vita’s compatriots TP Mazembe will battle to defend her title after a 0-2 loss on Saturday to Morocco’s Wydad Casablanca.
Mazembe is chasing a sixth title, which would make her the second most successful club after eight-time champions Al Ahly of Egypt.