Nigerian Under-20 coaches were left scratching their heads at the African Youth Championship after the Flying Eagles forced the Junior Elephants of Cote’d Ivoire to a 2-2 draw in their last group A match decided at the Caroline Faye Stadium in Dakar, Senegal.

Flying Eagles went down in the first minute of the game after Degbole Franck fired home from inside the box. But Christian Pyagbara restored some hope in the fourth minute. The Ivorians kept the pressure on the Flying Eagles and they were rewarded in the 10th minute when Chris Bedia restored the Ivorian lead.

At the resumption the Flying Eagles searched for the equaliser and they toiled all through, looking for openings in the Junior Elephants defence, they finally had their break in the dying minutes of the match.

They were back in the match when left-back Mustapha Abdullahi was hacked down in the box. Team skipper Musa Mohammed stepped up to convert the resultant spot kick for his third goal of the tournament. The entertaining match ended 2-2 with the fans enjoying values for their hard earned cash.

The six-time winners of the AYC, who had already qualified for the semi finals of the competition ended up as group winners with seven points from three games.

The Flying Eagles had won all their matches in the group.