20100117
allafrica

Lubango — Gabon and Tunisia have played out the first goalless draw at the African Nations Cup finals – a result that greatly enhanced Gabon's chances of surprise progress to the next phase but puts Tunisia's campaign in peril.

Gabon move to four points, adding one on Sunday to the three collected after their shock 1-0 win over Cameroon in the opening Group D game in midweek.

Tunisia, who had arguably the best chance to win Sunday's encounter at impressive Tundavala National Stadium, have now drawn their first two games at the tournament in Angola and next play Cameroon in this southern city.

It leaves their continued participation in a perilous position, meaning that striker Armine Chermiti will be ruing squandering a gilt-edged chance to win the game midway through the first half.

The speed of the Saudi-based striker saw him intercept a sloppy back pass from the Gabonese defence to goalkeeper Didier Ovono, then go round the goalkeeper but lose his footing with only the task of sliding the ball into an empty net left to execute.

On the balance of opportunities, Gabon more than held their own against Tunisia, a side who narrowly missed out on World Cup qualification but have since gone through a major transformation with a new coach and an overhauled squad.

Gabon's Eric Mouloungui steered two headers wide of goal when it seemed easier to score and also forced a fine save out of Aymen Mathlouthi with a rasping long-range shot.

Gabon's speedy striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was also a handful for the Tunisia defence. He too will reflect before he goes to bed on a chance in 77th minute - he beat the offside trap to get to get the end of a searching cross-field pass from Daniel Cousin, but was unable to control the ball when a delicate touch was needed to set himself up for a a real scoring chance.

Gabon could yet go on and finish top of the standings, fancying their chances against Zambia on Thursday in Lubango in their last group match.