TAMALE - Senegal and Tunisia had to settle for a share of the spoils after an entertaining draw in the opening Group D match of the African Nations Cup in Tamale.
Issam Jomaa opened the scoring for the Tunisians, before Moustapha Sall capitalised on an error to level the scores at the break.
Diomansy Kamara then handed the Lions of Teranga the lead before a stunning strike from Mejdi Traoui seven minutes from time earned his side a draw.
The game started slowly with few chances in the first half - El Hadji Diouf's dangerous free-kick early on almost caught out the Tunisian defence, but Mamadou Niang headed the ball away.
Roger Lemerre's team were ahead in the ninth minute when Jomaa linked up well with Wissam El Bekri on the left and fired in a low shot from the left that took goalkeeper Tony Sylva by surprise.
Senegal tried to press forward in response, but failed to create any real opening amidst some tight defending from their opponents.
Niang eventually managed to wriggle away from Radhi Jaidi, only to whizz his shot across the face of goal from the right, while Diouf, Kamara and Ousmane N'Doye all wasted half chances.
In first-half stoppage time, Jaidi made a mess of a routine clearance just inside the penalty area and the ball fell to Sall, who finished low from 14 yards to see the two sides go in level at the break.
The goal seemed to have lifted Senegal and they started the second 45 minutes promisingly with a deflected close-range shot from Diouf.
Kamara then wasted a gilt-edged chance after a splendid weighted pass from Diouf through to the Fulham forward, who pushed his shot across the face of goal from just inside the penalty area.
Niang and Diouf then went close in quick succession, with the former's shot rebounding into the path of his team-mate, who saw his effort scrambled wide by the Tunisian defence.
Niang was again wasteful on the hour mark, somehow putting Frederic Mendy's cross wide of the goal from point-blank range as Tunisia defended desperately.
And their resilience was eventually ended as a corner from the left in the 66th minute caused panic in the penalty area and the ball was deflected into the path of Kamara for a simple tap-in.
Tunisia responded immediately when sloppy defending by Souleymane Diawara allowed Kamel Zaiem to curl the ball narrowly wide from the edge of the penalty area.
Seven minutes from time, the equaliser arrived via a stunning strike from Traoui, who picked up a defensive clearance 25 yards out before striking a fierce shot that Sylva could only watch fly past him to secure a share of the spoils.
