Benin hold 10-man Ghana to draw in Africa Cup of Nations opener

Ghana were held to a 2-2 draw by Benin in their opening Africa Cup of Nations Group F game in the Ismailia Stadium.

Ghana played most of the second half with 10 men and paid the price as Benin forced them to settle for a point when Mickael Pote netted his second goal of the game in Ismailia, Egypt.

Pote opened the scoring before Andre and Jordan Ayew netted for Ghana who then had John Boye sent off in the second half for a second bookable offence.

Benin started well and took the lead after just two minutes through Pote.

But Ghana recovered quickly from that setback as Fenerbache's on-loan Swansea forward Andre Ayew levelled the scores seven minutes later.

Three minutes before the break Jordan Ayew, who is on loan at Crystal Palace from Swansea, put Ghana ahead when he collected a pass on the turn before firing in from the edge of the area.

Ten minutes into the second half Ghana's hopes suffered a blow when Boye was shown a second yellow card for time wasting.

Tunisian referee Youssef Essayri decided to book Boye who looked set to take a free-kick in his own half before deciding to leave it to goalkeeper Richard Ofori.

Eight minutes later Benin were back on level terms as Pote netted his second goal of the game and that was enough to earn his side a share of the points.