Lepasa's purple patch continues as Pirates soar to next round of CAF Champions League

Zakhele Lepasa netted twice as Orlando Pirates outplayed Djabal of the Comoros 3-0 on Friday to reach the CAF Champions League preliminary round two.

Lepasa scored five goals in two domestic matches this month, including a hat-trick, and was the match winner when Pirates won the first leg of the African tie through a lone goal last weekend.

The 26-year-old has also impressed for Bafana Bafana and could be a forward to watch at the Africa Cup of Nations in the Ivory Coast next year (13 January - 11 February).

Lepasa struck the only goal of the opening half on 25 minutes in Soweto and completed the scoring on 63 minutes soon after Patrick Maswanganyi had doubled the second-leg lead.

Pirates will face Jwaneng Galaxy of Botswana or Vipers of Uganda next with the southern Africa club leading 2-0 having played at home.

Al Merrikh of Sudan, forced to play a home match in Rwanda because of a war in the east African nation, scraped through on away goals after a 0-0 draw with Otoho of Congo.

The Omdurman outfit had drawn the first encounter 1-1 in Brazzaville and face ASAS Telecom of Djibouti or Young Africans of Tanzania next.

On Thursday, APR of Rwanda scored twice after half-time through Apam Bemol and Gilbert Muqisha to beat Gaadiidka of Somalia 2-0 after a drawn first leg.

APR advanced 3-1 on aggregate and will face Champions League debutants Pyramids of Egypt for a place in the group stage.