Ghana snatched a late draw against Angola at Estadio 11 de Novembro in Luanda on Monday and maintained their place at the top of Group E with 8 points from four games.

Substitute Osman Buakari scored the equalizer 18 minutes to the end of the game. The performance wasn’t pretty but better than what we saw on Thursday.

Here are five things we learned from the game:

Hughton bold again

Like he did last week, Chris Hughton was again bold with his decision making for the game. The former Ireland international benched captain Andre Ayew for the first leg in Kumasi and was again fearless today with Inaki Williams who he dropped to the bench to bring in Antoine Semenyo. The Bournemouth attacker came off the bench to score the winner in Kumasi. This is a testament that hard work pays.

Bad pitch

The pitch was worse than what we saw on Thursday in Kumasi. From the onset, the playing surface was tearing off when the studs of players go deep into the grass. Jordan Ayew and Kamaldeen Sulemana all slipped early in the game and the playing surface also impacted the quality of play as much as what happened in Kumasi.

Black Stars goal shy

Ghana’s players were poor with their final third decisions. When the chances came to them from the start, they were goal shy and didn’t have the confidence to shoot at goal. When the Black Stars got the ball at the final third, they were passing it among themselves instead of trying something. Ghana recorded only two shots on target

Hughton’s changes always work, so far

In Kumasi, when Hughton took off Inaki Williams and brought on Antoine Semenyo, he scored the winner in the 96th minute. And today, the former Brighton manager brought in Osman Bukari for Mohammed Kudus and Joseph Paintsil for Kamaldeen Sulemana. Paintsil teed up Bukari to score the equalizer. Tact with his changes, so far.

Set piece problems

For a very long time now, the Black Stars have had set piece issues. And it was again clear to see. All the free kicks and corners Jordan Ayew had taken, all went wayward. They lacked direction and always over hit or under hit.