Agony for the hosts as Gyan puts Ghana through

Ghana's substitutes, including Dominic Adiyiah, centre, celebrate on the sidelines after Gyan's winning goal yesterday.

Asamoah Gyan scored the only goal as Ghana spoiled the party and dumped hosts Angola out of the African Cup of Nations to reach the semi-finals. The Rennes striker found the target in the 16th minute, ending a sweeping counter-attack with a clinical finish to stun the near 50,000 crowd at the Estadio do Novembre 11 in Luanda. Milovan Rajevac's depleted team looked in control for almost the entire encounter after taking command early in the first half, with disappointing finishing largely responsible for keeping the home side blank.

The signs of adrenalin pumping were clearly evident from the outset - Andre Ayew booked inside the opening 30 seconds for diving in on Mabina - but there were also nerves as both sides looked to settle quickly. The Black Stars took the lead when a defence-splitting pass by Kwadwo Asamoah from inside his own half picked out Gyan on the right and the former Udinese striker fired an 18-yard cross-goal shot beyond Carlos Fernandes.

Manucho had a golden opportunity to equalise for Angola when a floated cross from Flavio on the right by-line offered the Vallado-lid striker a free header, but he put it straight at keeper Richard Kingston, who managed to parry the danger away. It should have been level on the stroke of half-time when Flavio again set up Manucho with the goal gaping. The Al-Shabab striker beat two defenders to the ball in the centre of the box, but his knockdown was somehow blasted over by his strike partner.

After the restart, Angola continued to pile on the pressure, but it was Ghana who carved out the first real chance when Ayew fired a low 20-yard shot straight at Fernandes after clever work by the Marseille midfielder in the build-up. The visitors then suffered a major blow on the hour mark when goalscorer Gyan pulled up with a hamstring problem and had to be replaced. When the home side finally created their first real chance of the second half after 72 minutes, it was again wasted - Manucho the culprit for a third time on the night nodding over a free header from three yards out.

Five minutes of injury time were added and it gave Angola hope, but centre-back Kali wasted the last two chances of the game as Manuel Jose's team matched their best-ever appearance in the competition, but failed to progress. * With agencies