Result: Burkina Faso beat Ghana to seal third-place finish at Africa Cup of Nations

Published on: 05 February 2017

Avram Grant's spell in charge of Ghana has ended in a disappointing manner, as a late Alain Traore goal proved enough to earn Burkina Faso a 1-0 victory in the Africa Cup of Nations third-place playoff.

The match looked to be heading for a period of extra time, only for the Kayserispor striker to pop up a minute from time to seal victory for the Stallions at the Stade de Port-Gentil in Gabon.

Grant, who has spent just over two years in charge of the Ghana national side, saw his team's hopes of winning the competition ended by Cameroon in Thursday's semi-final.

Bernard Tekpetey almost gave the Black Stars a reason to smile midway through the first half from the first serious attempt, which he blasted against the frame of the goal.

Kouakou Herve Koffi had to be at full stretch to keep out Jordan Ayew from the only on-target attempt of the opening 45 minutes, doing well to push aside the shot from a tight angle to keep the scores level.

Burkina Faso had a glorious chance to take the lead through Prejuce Nakoulma's counter, which he squandered when charging through on goal, while Ayew blasted narrowly wide up the other end.

Both teams went in desperate search of a winner in normal time, with Tekpetey again wasteful as he this time headed over, but up the other end Richard Ofori was being kept busy by Bernard Traore's shots.

The winner then arrived late in the match, as Traore unleashed into the top corner from a free kick from what was the best piece of attacking quality in the game to earn a third-place finish for his side.

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