APR a draw away from Cecafa quarterfinals

Yesterday Group BKCCA 1-0 AtleticoAPR 1-0 Telecom CENTRE-BACK Emery Bayisenge scored the lone goal in the tie between APR and Telecom of Djibout last evening to boost the Rwandan champions’ chances of reaching the quarter-finals of the Cecafa Kagame Cup 2014 championship. The 20 year-old former Rwanda U-17 skipper scored with a fabulous free kick in the 35th minute after a Telecom defender had brought down Jean Claude Iranzi, sending a partisan crowd inside the Kigali Regional Stadium into wild celebrations. Ljubomir Petrovic’s side continued to dominate the game, with Telecom defending in numbers and giving little space to APR strikers to test goalie Jeef Inzokira. Jean-Baptiste Mugiraneza and Jean-Claude Iranzi tried their luck from distance without major impact, while a Bayisenge’s free-kick was well saved by Teelecom’s Burundi-born custodian. Telecom had three clear chances of their own to find an equaliser, through Housein Warsama and Aboubakar Djama but they were denied by impressive APR goalkeeper Olivier Kwizera. With two wins out of two, following another 1-0 victory in the first game against Atletico of Burundi, on Saturday, APR now need a draw against Kenya’s Gor Mahia on Friday to reach the quarter-finals with one game to spare – against KCCA of Uganda. APR and KCCA have six points apiece but the former lead Group B standings on goal difference with a game in hand, while Telecom and Atletico have three points each. Gor Mahia are bottom of the table without a point from two matches but, mathematically, they still have a chance to qualify to quarterfinals. Earlier in the day, Brian Omony won and converted a penalty for KCCA in the 20th minute against Atletico after a skipper Francis Onongwe foul, to win the tie 1-0 for the Ugandan side. Rwanda’s other representatives Police FC were the first team to reach the last eight, while Rayon Sports are also tipped to go past the group stage of the regional club tournament.