The Black Stars were held to a 2-2 draw in their 2019 AFCON opening match against the Benin at the Ismailia stadium on Tuesday.

Mickael Pote scored twice for the Squirrels with the Ayew brothers scoring a goal each for the Black Stars in the first half.

Pote scores the fastest goal of the tournament after he picked up a pass just two minutes into the match and fired a low shot to beat Richard Ofori in post for the Black Stars.

Captain André Ayew drew parity for Ghana after he pounced on a lose in the Beninois box and placed the ball into the bottom corner.

The Black Stars enjoyed lots of possession in the rest of the first half with Samuel Owusu who came on for Thomas Agyepong coming close to scoring a debut goal in the 39th minute when his shot went off target.

The Black Stars however shot themselves into the lead after Nuhu Kassim laid a pass to Jordan Ayew who slotted it into the top right corner in the 42nd minute.

Ghana went a man down in the second half after defender John Boye received a second yellow card in the 54th minute which forced coach Kwesi Appiah to bring on Jonathan Mensah for Samuel Ofori.

Substitute Jodel Dossou came on and made the numerical advantage count for Benin when he assisted Pote to score his second goal with a back heel in the 63rd minute.

The Black Stars were unable to restore their lead despite the opportunities that came their way.

The results leaves Ghana and Benin with a point each with Ghana’s next opponents leading group F with three points after beating Guinea Bissau earlier on Tuesday.

Meanwhile striker Jordan Ayew received an award as the best player of the match.

The Black Stars will play their next group match on Saturday at the Ismailia Stadium.