After a jittery opening minutes, Nigeria’s Super Eagles showed class to record their first win this evening at the African Nations Championship (CHAN) in South Africa, beating hard-fighting Mambas of Mozambique 4-2 at the Cape Town Stadium to raise hopes of qualification for the second round of the competition.

The goal rain started as early as the 10^th minute when Dario Khan riffled home a free kick past goalie Chigozie Agbim from around the half way mark. Ifeanyi Ede equalized the next minute, with Rabiu Ali putting Nigeria in front two minutes later. The advantage was, however, shortlived as Diogo dribbled on-rushing Agbim to even scores in the 20^th minute.

On the restart Khan handled man-of-the-match Ejike Uzoenyi’s shot for a penalty kick buried by Rabiu Ali for his second goal of the match. Substitute Barnabas Imenger chipped over on-rusing goalkeeper Soarito to make it 4-2 with five minutes left to play.

Nigeria now need to beat hosts South Africa in their last group match on Sunday to zoom into the next round. With South Africa and Mali earlier drawing one-all to retain their numbers one and two positions on the table, anything short of victory on Saturday may not be good enough for the much-improved Super Eagles.

•Photo shows man-of-the-match Ejike Uzoenyi.