Tunisia held by Cape Verde

Ebebiyin - The outstanding Heldon blasted home a late penalty to help Cape Verde to a deserved 1-1 draw with Tunisia in their Africa Nations Cup Group C clash at the Nuevo Estadio de Ebebiyín on Sunday.

In a game of two halves, Cape Verde had the better chances in the opening period and Tunisia the second, with a draw perhaps a fair result.

Mohamed Moncer had scored his first international goal to give Tunisia the lead 20 minutes from the end, but after Heldon was bundled in the box he got up to convert the equaliser from the penalty-spot.

It means all four sides in Group B have a single point after Zambia and DR Congo played to a 1-1 draw in the earlier fixture, essentially turning this pool into a two-round shoot-out.   

Cape Verde should have gone into the lead ahead, Fernando Verela struck the post with a header inside two minutes and Djaniny shot straight at the goalkeeper from 12-yards when well-placed.

Djaniny’s floated cross then almost dropped in at the back post and Kuca screwed his shot wide late in the half.

Tunisia offered almost nothing bar speculative long-range efforts in the opening period.

It looked as though the pattern of the game would continue in the second period when Kuca had his shot cleared off the line by Syan Ben Yousseff, but Tunisia then began to take control.

A long free-kick saw Yassine Chikhaoui hit the crossbar with a header. The ball was bundled into the net from the rebound, but referee Castane pulled play back for a foul that was hard to spot.

And the north Africans got their goal as a ball across the six-yard box fell to Moncer at the back-post and he rifled it into the rood of the net.

That joy lasted just seven minutes though before Ben Yousseff turned villain and bundled Heldon in the box. The forward got up and blasted the ball into the top corner to earn a deserved point for his side.