The Ivorian opened the scoring in the 16th minute after an impressive work from Lukman Mohammed, then he doubled his side's lead two minutes later from a Zoumana Doumbia cross.

Doumbia was on hand to deliver yet another delightful cross in the second half for Esosa Igbinoba to slot home a crucial third in the 81st minute. The goal made Igbinoba the club's highest goal scorer in the tournament so far with three goals.

Technical manager of United, Stanley Eguma gave his thoughts on the match.

Meanwhile Diego Garzitto, the Al-Merrikh head coach explained that one of the factors that led to his side's loss was that they were not used to playing at 4pm because they normally play their matches at night. He also added that their pitch in Sudan is grass but they had to play on an artificial surface in Port Harcourt.

Prior to the match, one man who was identified as a threat to Rivers United was , Kelechi Osunwa, however, following the outcome of the game, the former Dolphins star blamed fatigue for his side's under performance.

Both sides will meet again at the intimidating 43,000 capacity Al-Merrikh Stadium, Omdurman on March 18 to decide the tie. 

Champions League runners-up Zamalek claimed a comfortable 4-1 victory over Enugu Rangers at Cairo's El-Salam Stadium yesterday.

Stanley Ohawuchi, Hossam Salama, Ayman Hefni and Mostafa Fathi were all on the score sheet as Zamalek head into the return leg on March 17 with a comfortable lead.