Michael Essien’s hard work in the opening African Cup of Nations game for Ghana against Guinea on Sunday might have merited a goal after regulation time to cap a great game.

A selfless performance with no cautions and cards to his name on the day gave a different picture of the aggressive and hard tackling midfielder as he left the Ohene Djan Stadium with an award.

Essien picked the first Samsung Fair-Play award presented to players after every game at the 26th African Cup of Nations.

This is the maiden Fair-Play honour at the competition handed players as Samsung, new partners of the CAF, are introducing the Fair-Play award to the Nations Cup.

However, Sunday’s game which Ghana won 2-1 with a last-gasp goal from Sulley Muntari attracted four yellow cards.

Ghana had three players, Eric Addo, Laryea Kingston and Sulley Muntari going into the referees books as Guinea captain, Pascal Feindounou also picked up a card.