Harison Afful’s Esperance crashed out of the CAF Champions League despite their 2-1 home win over Sudan’s El Merriekh who featured Ghanaian duo Augustine Okrah and Francis Coffie.

Ahmed Dofr gave the visiting Sudanese a strong advantage with a 14th minute strike.

The opener handed El Merriekh a commanding 2-0 advantage – leaving the hosts with a huge deficit to make up for.

Esperance had to wait until the 69th minute to equalize through Yannick Ndjeng.

The Tunisian giants mounted a concerted attacking siege in search of the go-ahead goal which wouldn’t have even been enough to see them through.

It eventually came but on the stroke of full time when Arbi Jabeur scored to even the tie on a 2-2 aggregate scoreline.

El Merriekh however progressed on the away-goal’s rule – meaning Esperance will now fall off to compete in the final qualification stage for the Confederation Cup.