Black Stars of Ghana threw away their lead twice as they were held to a 2-2 draw by the Pharaoh of Egypt in their second Group B game at the Felix Houphouet Boigny Stadium on Thursday night.

In the stoppage time of the first half, West Ham star Mohammed Kudus put Ghana upfront with a left-footed shot from outside the box to the bottom left corner from an assist by Salis Abdul Samed.

Just before the hour mark, Egypt almost equalised as Omar Marmoush launched a corner kick into Ghana’s box, but Mohamed Abdelmone’s header from a tight angle was too high to find the target.

In the 69th minute, Marmoush got hold of a wrong back pass from a Ghana player, and the forward wasted no chance in converting the chance to draw level for Egypt in the entertaining match.

Less than 60 seconds later, Kudus scored his brace of the game with a left-footed curler from the right side of the pitch, which went directly past goalkeeper Mohamed El Shenawi to restore Ghana’s lead.

In the 74th minute, Mostafa Mohamed capitalised on another error from the Ghana defence to equalise for Egypt for the second time, which was enough to salvage a point for the Pharaohs.

Liverpool star Mohamed Salah was forced out of the game after the former Chelsea player sustained an injury just before the halftime break.

The draw earned Ghana their first point of the tournament, forcing them into a position where they will now have to win their last group game to have a chance of advancing to the AFCON round of 16.

Ghana lost 2-1 to Cape Verde in their opening group game, while Egypt were forced to a surprising 2-2 draw by Mozambique.