Tunisia fight back to hold Nigeria

Oliseh, a former Super Eagles defender revealed that the notion of Nigerians thinking they should be winning titles all the time must stop. Osas Okoro curled the freekick in for Ifeanyi Matthew who took a powerful shot.

Earlier in the day, 2011 CHAN champions Tunisia were held to a 2-2 draw by Guinea, Alseny Camara Agogo netting an 83 minute leveller to ensure the points were shared.

Ikechukwu Ezenwa came to the rescue a number of times – in the 14th, 27th and 78th minutes to deny the enterprising Tunisians – but Nigeria did enough to keep the North Africans at bay.

The assistant referee put up the flag because he saw the ball roll out of touch before it was crossed for Akaichi to score.

The second half began with Nigeria’s coach, Sunday Oliseh making a first change.

Chikatara came off the bench in the 58th minute to replace the hugely ineffective Tunde Adeniji and he showed his class with three well-taken goals and could even have scored more against Mena.

Tunisia looked by far the more threatening side in the opening exchanges, as the Nigerian defence appeared very vulnerable to the counter-attack.

But just before Niger could celebrate the goal, Nigeria responded with a second goal for Chikatara off another assist by Okoro.

Niger got a lifeline towards qualifying for the knock out round of the 2016 African Nations Championship as they played a 2-2 draw with Guinea. This was his third goal of the tournament. He added that the Tunisia team is hoping to qualify for the next stage, and a win on Friday would be a huge step toward that.

Notwithstanding the draw, Nigeria sit top of their group with four points from two games.