It was a case of stalemate all round in Tamale in Wednesday's Africa Nations Cup Group D games, with a wonder strike by Elrio Van Heerdeen saving South Africa against Angola and a late Tunisia fightback earning them a point against Senegal.
Angola were in the driving seat against the 2010 World Cup hosts after a thumping header from Mateus "Manucho" Goncalves, the teenager who after the competition heads to Old Trafford to take up his new contract with Manchester United.
Later Manucho cleared the ball off the line when South Africa captain Aaron Mokoena thought he had equalized but it was Van Heerden who saved the day for Carlos Alberto Parreira's men.
The substitute latched on to a pass from Teko Modise, drifted past a defender and fired a shot over goalkeeper Luis Joao to earn a point.
"We just had too keep going, had to create chances. We worked very hard, we'll be better in our next game against Tunisia," South Africa's goal hero said.
For Parreira the "Bafana Bafana" deserved more than a point given their endeavor.
"I knew we were capable of getting a good result but this one doesn't do justice to the shape of the match," he said. "We had a greater share of the play than Angola but we weren't able to score."
"If we want to qualify we'll have to now win one of our remaining two games. Any one of the four teams in the group can still qualify," Parreira said.
In the first act of the Tamale double header, Tunisia snatched a late goal to share the spoils 2-2 with Senegal.
The 2004 champions punished Senegal for squandering a multitude of chances when Majdi Traoui unleashed a rocket that flew past motionless goalkeeper Tony Sylva seven minutes from full-time.
This meeting came with a fair amount of history attached to it.
When the pair last met, at the 2004 African Nations Cup, Senegal seethed after claiming host status had played a part when they lost 1-0 in an ill-tempered quarter-final.
Four years on and Issam Jemaa gave the north Africans an early lead they held until first-half stoppage time when Bayal Sall equalized and a fierce Senegalese onslaught paid off when Diomansy Kamara put them ahead on 66 minutes.
But the Teranga Lions were punished for a host of missed chances when Traoui produced the equalizer seven minutes from time.
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