Nairobi — Tanzanian giants Yanga beat South Africa's Marumo Gallants, coached by former Gor Mahia tactician Dylan Kerr, in the CAF Confederation Cup semis to inch closer to a first ever continental final ticket.

Second half goals from Stephane Aziz Ki and Bernard Morrison saw the Tanzanians win 2-0 and pick a crucial victory heading to next week's return tie down South.

Kerr, who was returning to Tanzania having also previously coached Yanga's bitter rivals Simba, said they lost in crucial moments of the game and credited the Yanga fans for lifting their team.

"The atmosphere was unbelievable. When these Yanga fans get behind the team, then they push them really hard. At 1-0 maybe we could have seen the game off because it is a manageable scoreline, but we did football suicide when we had all bodies upfront and we were hit on the counter," Kerr said.

He added; "We still have the return leg and we have to work on some few errors that we had and hopefully we can turn this tie to our favour."

Meanwhile, Yanga's Nasreddine Nabbi was happy with the victory, but not entirely pleased with the performance.

"We won yes, but we didn't perform well in certain aspects of the game so I am not entirely happy. We have won 2-0 which is good, but the work is not yet done," the Tunisian tactician said.

Aziz Ki opened the scoring just after the hour mark with a clinical finish into the roof of the net after picking up a pass from Tuisila Kisinda.

The goal came at a time when Ranga Chivaviro of Gallants had seen two very open chances go begging.

Yanga scored the second crucial goal with less than six minutes left on the clock with a quick counter when Morrison ran through to a Fiston Mayele pass before scoring with his second touch, his first having dinked over the keeper and a defender.

Yanga will only need to avoid defeat next weekend to make the final.

Meanwhile in the other semi-final, USM Alger of Algeria and Asec Mimosas of Ivory Coast played to a 0-0 draw in Abidjan.