Vipers SC kept their continental dream alive with another composed showing against African Stars of Namibia, sealing a 2-0 aggregate passage into the second preliminary round of the CAF Champions League.
At St. Mary’s Stadium, Kitende on Saturday, the decisive blow came just past the hour mark. Namibia’s defence hesitated under pressure while trying to play out from the back, and Milton Karisa’s relentless chase forced a costly slip.
Yunus Sentamu, alert and ruthless, snapped up the loose ball and coolly steered home to put daylight between the sides.
The Venoms had been handed an early warning when Edgar Kamatuka let fly on the half-hour, his strike cannoning off the upright with Fabien Mutombora beaten.
That moment jolted the hosts, but they soon rediscovered their rhythm, dictating possession and starving the visitors of space.
Sentamu might have doubled the margin late on after bursting through one-on-one, only to skew his finish wide of the far post. Yet with the Namibians struggling to mount any meaningful late surge, the missed chance mattered little.
Coach Jacky Ivan Minnaert rang the changes from the first leg in Cape Town, restoring Sentamu to the line-up and handing Liberian forward Robin Kane a start. Both men delivered tireless shifts before being replaced, while Karisa and Marvin Youngman injected fresh legs to close out proceedings.
For Vipers, the assignment only gets sterner. They now await the winner between Zambia’s Power Dynamos and Côte d’Ivoire heavyweights ASEC Mimosas in the next round.
Vipers XI
Kiggundu (GK); Mandela, Dasylva, Mukundane, Luyima; Lwanga, Ssebagala, Watambala (Ndahiro 90+3); Okello © (Ogwang 90+3); Sentamu (Youngman 75), Robin (Karisa 58).
Unused subs: Mudekereza (GK), Torach, Mbowa, Mulongo, Chukwuma.
