It was certainly going to be a difficult game for Ghana and so it was as Libya claimed a late win over the Black Stars in the African qualifiers for the 2010 Africa Nations Cup and World Cup campaign.
The 1-0 victory for Libya sees them overtake Ghana to the summit of the Group 5 standings with a game to wrap up the second round of the continental preliminaries.
Libya were far more efficient than Ghana on the day.
Ghana coach, Milovan Rajevac going into his fist competitive game for the Black Stars was forced to alter his starting team after the 22 minute when Michael Essien was taken off for returning team captain, Stephen Appiah.
The Chelsea midfielder was forced off with a knee injury as Ghana held on firmly at the Stade 11 June stadium that was filled with a partisan home crowd.
Appiah, playing his first competitive match after a ten-month lay-off showed good form when he came on.
Ghana struggled but still pushed for the opener with Stephen Appiah delivering two great balls past the Libyan defence but Junior Agogo and Sulley Muntari failed to find target.
The aggressive Libyan side threatened on the flanks but Ghana defender, Jonathan Quartey, playing his second game for the senior side was on hand to clear the lines as both sides went into break goalless.
Back from recess, the Libyans still had the better of the exchanges as they fought for all the second balls and succeeded in overworking the Ghana backline.
Laryea Kingston who had a quiet game like most of his colleagues was withdrawn in the 70th minute for Quincy Owusu-Abeyie.
Goalkeeper Richard Kingson produced the game’s best save in the 72nd minute when he tipped a goal bound chip from Omar Dawood beyond the cross the crossbar.
Kingson was on hand to pull to great saves again blocking point blank shots as Ghana struggled to contain their opponents.
The game looked like ending in a goalless draw until Harrison Afful mistimed his clearance that afforded Ahmed Osman the chance to poke in past Richard Kingson for the opener in the 84th minute.
The Ghanaian bench made their last change on the night with Eric Bekoe coming on for John Paintsil but time had run out for the Black Stars to pull a goal back as referee Coulibaly Koman ended the game after two minutes of added time.
Ghana are now second on the standings with nine points, thus three better than Gabon who play Lesotho on Sunday.
The Black Stars will need a win in their last qualifying game to push for a place in the final phase of the African qualifiers for the 2010 World Cup.
Ghana line up:
Richard Kingson, John Painstil/Eric Bekoe, Harrison Afful, Jonathan Quartey, Eric Addo, Anthony Annan, Laryea Kingston/Quincy Owusu-Abeyie, Michael Essien/Stephen Appiah, Junior Agogo, Haminu Draman, Sulley Muntari