William Troost-Ekong’s second-half penalty gave Nigeria a 1-0 win over Ivory Coast at the Africa Cup of Nations on Thursday, turning up the heat on the host country whose hopes of reaching the last 16 remain in the balance.

Captain Troost-Ekong, of Greek club PAOK, converted from the spot 10 minutes into the second half at the Ebimpe Olympic Stadium in Abidjan, after a foul on Victor Osimhen was picked up following a VAR check.

The Super Eagles then held on in front of a frenzied crowd to claim their first win in Group A after beginning their AFCON bid with a 1-1 draw against Equatorial Guinea.

Those sides are locked on four points at the top of the section, with Ivory Coast behind them on three points and Guinea-Bissau already eliminated after losing both games so far.

Read full story on sport.timesofmalta.com

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.