It nearly happened just as Coach Stephen Keshi said it would: Nigeria’s Super Eagles this evening had as good as beaten Stallions of Burkina Faso to zoom to the top of Group C in the on-going Africa Cup of Nations in South Africa.

The Eagles hung on to a 22^nd Emmanuel Emenike goal till the very last minute when they threw away the advantage having played the closing 17 minutes with 10 men after defender Efe Ambrose was harshly sent off in the 73^rd minute for a second bookable offence – second a minor contact with an opposing player.

To manage the crisis, Keshi pulled out striker Brown Ideye for defender Kenneth Omeruo in what was the team’s last substitution, having earlier brought in Ikechukwu Uche for Emenike in the 57^th minute and Fegor Ogude for Ogenyi Onazi in the 69^th. Uche came close a number of times and Nigeria appeared headed for a win until the dot of 90 minutes when the flat-footed defence line watched lamely as Allain Traore slotted in the equaliser in the third of four added minutes.

With the result, all four teams in the group remain at the same level – 10-man Ethiopia having battled to a one-all draw with defending champions Zambia in the group’s opening match. Nigeria’s next match is against Zambia on Friday.

•Photo: Efe Ambrose saw red and compounded Nigeria’s problems.