The Aba Elephants had an away goal advantage over their opponent courtesy of the 2-1 loss in the reverse fixture in South Africa, which means a one-nil win would secure their passage.

However, they started the game poorly with series of uncoordinated play and could easily have gone behind on the 3rd minute when Vincent Pule played a dangerous low shot from range but the Enyimba keeper made a decent save.

As the half progresses, Enyimba failed to pose any serious threat to Orlando Pirates except for an awkward bounce in the South Africans’ box that was smartly gathered by the goalkeeper.

With ES Setif leading Al Ahli by a goal in the other group game, Enyimba was on the brink of elimination and the players went into the halftime break with this in mind.

Enyimba’s wobble continued all through the second half with the South Africans now opted to sit back and soak in the pressure. The Nigerians didn’t create any goal-scoring chance until the 90th minute when Tosin Omoyele  scored from close range but the linesman raised the flag for offside.

Deep into the additional minutes, Super Eagles starlet, Anayo Iwuala, who has been quiet all night pounced on a loose ball in the Pirates box, wriggled his way past two defenders before releasing a low cross to find Olisemaka in the far post who converted from close range.

Orlando Pirates quickly went in search of a comeback but the Enyimba goalkeeper, Noble, did well to save from close range.

The victory confirmed Enyimba’s progression into the next round while the Pirates also went through as a result of the other game that turned out in their favor.

This was Pirates’ first defeat in this season’s competition.