Dikwena held in Africa

Cape Town - Platinum Stars were held to a 1-1 draw by Mouloudia Club d'Alger in their 2017 CAF Confederation Cup Group B opener on Sunday.

Match summary

Boudebouda opened the scoring on seven minutes at the Royal Bafokeng Stadium before Katlego Khunou netted a 43rd minute equaliser to see both sides claim a point.

Full report

Despite starting well, a very young Stars side found themselves behind to a seventh minute Boudebouda goal as he reacted quickest to turn home an early corner.

Sipho Senne came close to an equaliser on 30 minutes after being fed the ball by Khunou on the right of the goal, but he only succeeded in firing his shot into the side netting.

Robert Ng’ambi then saw his low shot from range easily saved by Fawzi Chaouchi a minute later before Gift Links ran through the Mouloudia defence before slicing a shot well off target.

Stars should then have had a penalty after Links was fouled in the area, but the referee awarded a free-kick in the edge of the box instead.

The set-piece hit the defensive wall before Solomon Mathe fired over the rebound.

But the hosts were level, just before the break as Benson Shilongo stole possession before racing forward and feeding Khunou who smashed a shot into the roof of the net.

A long ball forward at the start of the second half so nearly set up Shilongo but he couldn't control the ball, allowing Chaouchi to collect.

Steven Hoffman made a spectacular one-handed save to deny Kaled Gourmi after he was played in with a good ball over the Stars defence.

Hoffman then made a point-blank save, from the resulting corner, as Bdelghani Demmou powered in a header from close range.

Shilongo produced a weak shot after a bursting run forward from Ng’ambi, while Mouloudia may well have had a penalty on 65 minutes after Thuto Mphahlele fouled Sid Aouedj, but the referee waved play on.

The visiting team pushed numbers forward in search of a second and Walid Derradja headed just wide from a good delivery from the right on 70 minutes.

Hoffman was then forced into a good low save to his right before a long-range effort from Aouedj on 76 minutes had the keeper scrambling before it landed just outside his right hand post.

There were a number of half chances for both sides, while it was the team from Algeria who could be seen celebrating the point at the final whistle, as Cavin Johnson's side bemoaned two points dropped.