Ethiopia and Congo met in their African Nations Championship Group C clash at Free State Stadium.
Both sides suffered defeats in their opening games and were in dire need of points to close the gap on Libya and Ghana at the top of the group.
The two teams' spurned several golden opportunities during the match and it looked as though it was heading for a draw until Rudy Bhebey found the net in the 78th minute to hand Congo victory and end Ethiopia's hopes of qualifying.
Read how all the action unfolded in our commentary below.
Good evening and welcome to the live commentary of the African Nations Championship clash between Ethiopia and Congo.
Both teams are searching for their first points of the tournament in their second game, after losing their respective openers to their Group C rivals Libya and Ghana. Those sides now have a four-point lead over Ethiopia and Ghana, so one of our teams will be hoping to close the gap tonight, meanwhile the competition is over for tonight's loser if there is one.
The team news has just been announced and we'll start with Ethiopia.
ETHIOPIA STARTING XI: Tassew, Alula Girma, Butako, Elyas, Bargicho, Adane Girma, Teshome, Megersa, Assefa, Asfaw, Okwury.
ETHIOPIA SUBS: Debebe, Hailu, Fantu, Ashamo, Bogale, Mentesenot, Fikadu, Moges, Alemu, Mengesha, James, Getnet.
CONGO STARTING XI: Mouyabi, N'Kodia, Andzouana, Miangounina, Ankira, Binguila, Nkounkou, Bhebey, Lakolo, Magnokele, Obassi.
CONGO SUBS: Massa, Moukassa, Nkouka, Nkolo, Moubhio, Kinfounia, Beranger, Bidimbou, Baleckita, Mabiala, Ndzila, Tchibota.
A quick look at how these sides qualified for the tournament before we get underway, as Congo beat the Democratic Republic of the Congo in their Central Zone qualifier, while Ethiopia overcame Rwanda in their Central-East Zone clash.
The players are making their way onto the pitch so we should be underway shortly.
KICKOFF! We're underway in this Group C clash.
Slow start to the game as Congo win a free kick deep in Ethiopian territory but Nkounkou wastes possession in the final third of the pitch as he tries to find Miangounina down the wing but his pass goes into touch. That was a simple ball for the full back to make.
Bargicho makes an important challenge down the right for Ethiopia as Bherby was nearly set free down the wing from a through ball played by Ankira, but the defender was there quickly to make a good sliding challenge.
CHANCE! Megersa should have Ethiopia the lead as a free kick from Butako flies into the box and the midfielder finds himself in all sorts of space as Congo tried to play offside and failed but he could only direct his header over the bar from 10 yards out. What a miss.
CHANCE! Congo respond and nearly go ahead themselves as Miangounina raids down the left wing and hits a low cross into the box, where he finds the run of Obassi but he can't sort his feet out in time and kicks his effort back out wide, not even testing Tassew from close range.
Calmer last few minutes as Congo are beginning to control possession with a range of short passing, Ethiopia are pressing them high upfield looking to capitalise on any errors.
CHANCE! Congo win a free kick just outside the penalty area as Bargicho brings down Obassi with a sliding challenge. Lankolo takes the shot from 25 yards out and his effort goes inches past the post with Tassew beaten for power and placement as he was rooted to the spot.
CHANCE! Okwury is released behind the Congo defence with a ball over the top, he takes a touch and tries to bear down on goal but his second touch is awful and is far too far out in front of him and that allows Congo keeper Mouyabi to collect the ball inside his penalty area. That was a real chance.
Okwury causes problems for the Congo defence again and he is brought down right on the edge of the area, just as he was about to pull the trigger on a shot and the referee awards a free kick 20 yards from goal.
Butako takes the free kick left-footed and opts for power, but his shot hits the wall and Congo manage to clear the danger from the rebound.
SHOT! Bhebey wins the ball down the right and turns on the edge of the box and fires an effort at goal, it looked goalbound so Butako managed to get in the way to deflect the ball behind for a corner.
CHANCE! From the resulting corner, Tessew initially clears the ball away with a punch, but his clearance goes only as far as N'Kodia pushing up from the back and he unleashes a powerful strike at goal, which Tessew does well to beat away and from the rebound Obassi is flagged offside.
CHANCE! Okwury is in the action again, this time the ball falls to him in the box after Assefa pressured Magnokele into a mistake down the right, he shoots first time on his right foot but he can't direct his effort and Lakolo is there to make the block. He had more time than he thought there.
Teshome wins the ball in midfield for Ethopia and drives forward, Asfew then takes over and drags the ball out to the left, he tries to beat his man down the wing but it gets knocked back to Butako who lets fly with a 30-yard effort, which sails well over the crossbar.
Another ambitious effort, this time from Congo and Magnokele pushes well forward and he takes a touch to beat the challenge of Elyas and then from 25 yards he unleashes a shot at goal, which flies over the bar.
The game has settled down in the last few minutes, both teams seemed to be playing gung ho tactics at the start leaving themselves quite open at the back. However, there's a rhythm to the match now and Congo are enjoying the fair share of possession.
A big opening for Ethiopia as Assefa wins the ball in midfield and has plenty of support as the drives at goal, it's four against three in their favour but instead of passing the ball or shooting, he a combination of both and finds no-one through the middle and Mouyabi is able to gather with ease. That was poor by the midfielder.
SHOT! Adane Girma drives at goal with purpose and shows Assefa how to chose one decision, as he shoots from distance but unfortunately for him his effort goes way over the bar.
Congo get the ball in the final third of the pitch and can't quite make up their minds what to do with the ball as Obassi lays a pass into the feet of Nkounkou and the winger thinks he was looking for the return and plays it down the wing, but they weren't on the same page and it travels out for a goal kick.
The quality in the final third of the pitch has been poor from both sides, it has to improve if they are to get anything from this game to keep their hopes of qualifying from Group C alive.
CHANCE! Nkounkou gets in behind the Ethiopia defence and speeds into the box, he has support but opts to go it alone and he strikes a shot with the outside of his foot and it goes just past the post, although Tessew had the near post covered anyway.
HALF-TIME: Ethiopia 0-0 Congo
The quality wasn't there in the first half for either side to break the deadlock. Both teams had decent chances to open the scoring but due to poor decision making, they weren't able to find the net. There's been some decent football played in the middle of the pitch, but as soon as the teams got into the final third, it began to waver.
A point will leave these sides needing to do a lot in their final game of the campaign, as they trail Ghana and Libya by four points already. Hopefully their situation will be explained to them at the break, so we can see some better football.
The players are making their way back out onto the pitch and we should be underway shortly.
We're back underway in this Group C clash.
CHANCE! Congo threaten immediately as Binguila pushes forward and he lets fly with an effort from 25 yards out, which is on target but instead of trying to catch the ball Tassew tries to punch it and he doesn't make good contact, but fortunately for him the ball bounces away from Obassi lurking in the area.
SAVE! Congo raid forward again and Bhebey slips a through ball into the path of Obassi who shoots first time but Tassew makes an excellent save to keep the scores level as the powerful effort looked to be finding the top corner, before the keeper stuck out a hand to divert it over the bar.
Congo have come out for the second half full of energy and are really on the front foot at the moment and Ethiopia are just looking to stay in the game at the moment.
SAVE! A great save at the other end now as Assefa raids into the box and fires a powerful effort at goal with his right foot but Mouyabi makes the save at his near post and turns the ball past the post. A great stop by the keeper.
An action-packed start to the half, as both sides have excellent chances to take the lead but we're still goalless. This result will not benefit either side.
CHANCE! Ethiopia come close again as Assafa's shot is well saved by Mouyabi again after a lovely move down the right as Megersa lifted ball over the top and Alula Girma back-heeled a pass into the feet of the winger, but he couldn't power his effort past the keeper.
CHANCE! Another golden opportunity for Ethiopia that they can't take, as Butako raids down the left and puts a lovely ball across the face of goal but no player in green attacks it with the goal gaping and the ball goes behind for a goal kick.
After weathering the initial storm from Congo, it's Ethiopia who should be ahead as they've had three good chances to score in the past 10 minutes but somehow the game is still goalless. Will both side's come to rue these missed chances?
YELLOW CARD! Alula Girma takes one for the team as Bhebey raided away down the right and would have been in a two-on-one situation in the box with just one defender to beat, but the defender brought him down outside the area on the left.
The cross comes in from the resulting free kick and it's poor as it goes well over the bar, that was a wasted opportunity for Congo and it's Ankira who is guilty of it.
OFF THE BAR! Congo come within inches of taking the lead as a clearance only goes as far as Binguila on the edge of the area, he strikes the ball, before a challenge can come in from Butako, on the half-volley and his effort beats the outstretched hand of Tassew but hits the bar and goes over.
The momentum in this game keeps swinging from one team to the other and neither has been able to capitalise on their dominance in the match and this could cost them.
GOAL! Ethiopia 0-1 Congo (Bhebey)
Congo take the lead as Bhebey fires in from close range beating Tassew at last. The striker was played in with a lovely chipped ball by Binguila and he timed his run to perfection and powered the ball past the keeper on the half-volley with a nice finish. Congo have deserved that.
Ethiopia need to respond to that goal otherwise they will be out of the competition. They've played some decent football at times but they need to throw caution to the winds and find an equaliser somehow.
That is looking quite a difficult task as Congo are really fired up now and are first to every ball that drops in the midfield and are going into every challenge with bite and aggression with Binguila and Akira leading the way with some heavy tackles.
Congo are doing an excellent job of keeping the clock moving and the ball away from Ethiopia as they are using possession in the corners and winning cheap throw-ins. There's definitely a new-found energy with them since the goal and they seem determined to hold out for the win.
YELLOW CARDS! Magnokele is penalised for time wasting as he deliberated too long over taking a throw-in, while Obassi is carded for a heavy challenge on Butako.
There will be four minutes of added time.
Ethiopia haven't had a sniff at goal since Bhebey found the net for Congo, as they seem to have been demoralised and second by second their hopes of qualifying for the next round are ebbing away.
FULL-TIME: Ethiopia 0-1 Congo
Congo secure their first three points of the tournament as Rudy Bhebey's 78th minute strike hands them victory over Ethiopia in a game where either side could have won comfortably, but it was Claude Le Roy's side who keep their hopes of reaching the next round of the competition alive.
Ethiopia just couldn't take the chances that were on offer to them as they went close on several occasions. They have paid for their lack of potency as due to other results in their group, means that they can no longer qualify for the next round of the competition. It's hard luck on them but if you don't take your opportunities it will cost you in the end.
Thanks for joining our commentary this evening. We'll be back tomorrow with all the action from the Premier League and the rest of Europe. Until then, goodbye.
Written by
Simon Sinclair
Simon Sinclair
