Vipers SC could have lost the first leg of the preliminary round of the CAF Champions League away in Khartoum on Wednesday but team manager Javier Martinez Espinosa believes the Venoms can overturn the result and progress to the next stage.
The manager is optimistic his charges will finish the job at home come next week on Wednesday when the two teams face off in the return leg.
“I believe we have the potential to win at home and advance to the next stage,” he said before adding that the performance of the team was good despite losing 2-1.
“I must say the boys put up a spirited performance. We were hard done by those two late goals and not utilising the chances we got in the game.”
The gaffer also indicated that it was important that the team got an away goal which he thinks was vital in the quest to progress to the next phase.
“The goal we got here in Khartoum is very important to us because we only need to win at St.Mary’s stadium and make sure we do not concede for us to advance.” he added.
Dan Muzeeyi Sserunkuma came off the bench to score with four minutes on the clock to give the Venoms hope ahead of the return leg.
El Merriekh had scored through Almadina Bakri and Ibrahim Altag in the 79th and 82nd minutes respectively.
The winner on aggregate will face either CS Constatine of Algeria or GAMTEL from Gambia at the first round which is the final qualifying phase to the group stage.