Good afternoon! I'm Shane and I'll be bringing you text commentary of Algeria's clash with Ghana as the Desert Foxes (that's Algeria if you're not up on your AFCON nicknames) look to take a big step toward the quarter-final of the Africa Cup of Nations. They'll qualify from Group C if a) they beat Ghana and b) South Africa fail to beat Senegal in our next live commentary at 6.30 pm. #plug

Group C has actually been one of the more eventful groups in the competition thus far, with four goals coming in Algeria's 3-1 win over South Africa on Monday, while we saw another three goals in Ghana's 2-1 defeat to Senegal. Considering quite a lot of the games are ending 0-0, I'd say we've got a cracking day of football of lined up, my friends. Did I mention we're doing back-to-back text commentaries, with Senegal's encounter with South Africa coming up at 6.30? #plug

Okay so let's get rough, rugged and raw with a bit of team news, shall we? Why not, but first let's take a moment to celebrate Friday in all its glory with a bit of a sing-song. It was either this or that Rebecca Black joint, and I'm not that happy it's Friday.

GHANA XI: Brimah; Afful, Rahman, Mensah, Amartey; Acquah, Badu, Atsu, A. Ayew; J. Ayew, Gyan

ALGERIA XI: M'Bolhi; Mandy, Medjani, Bougherra, Ghoulam; Taider, Bentaleb, Lacen; Feghouli, Belfodil, Brahimi

We'll start with Algeria then and it looks like Christian Gourcuff makes three changes from that 3-1 win over South Africa. Firstly, Madjid Bougherra comes in to replace Rafik Halliche in defence. Then, Leicester City winger Riyad Mahrez makes way for Saphir Taïder in midfield, while Islam Slimani drops out for Ishak Belfoldil.

On to the Ghana now and Avram Grant makes two changes from that gut-wrenching defeat to Senegal. Asamoah Gyan has recovered from malaria, which is fantastic, as he leads the attack alongside Jordan Ayew, while Mohammad Awal drops out for Afriyie Acquah.

ONE TO WATCH! Who should we keep a particular eye on this afternoon then? There's only one candidate, isn't there. Yep, it has to be Yacine Brahimi. The 24-year-old was recently named as BBC's African Player of the Year, edging out the likes of Yaya Toure and Gervinho en route to the prize in a year where he starred for Algeria in the World Cup and hit a Champions League hat-trick for Porto.

A doff of the cap to Algeria coach Christian Gourcuff, who has elected to remain in Equatorial Guinea at the expense of missing his mother's funeral in France. Fair play to him in what must have been a ridiculously hard decision. Let's hope his boys do the business for him this afternoon.

Avram Grant is looking very relaxed considering a defeat would make it extremely possible for Ghana to qualify for the quarter-finals. Maybe he stopped off for a massage en route to the Estadio de Mongomo.

KICKOFF! Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand we're off at the Estadio do Mongomo, my friends. Ghana, playing in their white kit, get us underway. This should be a decent game.

We highlighted Brahimi's class before kickoff and he's just pulled off a wonderful bit of skill to evade a challenge, but Ghana quickly close down possession and win it back. We'll see lots of that kinda stuff from Brahimi this evening.

CLOSE! This isn't far away at all, and we've seen our first shot as Algeria left-back Ghoulam goes for goal from about 35 yards out, and his stinging free kick flies narrowly wide of the post.

Ghana can't get out of their own half. Algeria are pressing them brilliantly in this first five minutes or so. Really good work ethic shown thus far.

Huge moment of concern there as Ghana keeper Razak produces a hilariously heavy first touch from a back pass and all of a sudden Brahimi looks to capitalise on it, but Razak recovers just in time by clearing the danger. I thought my first touch was bad, but this was like a shot.

Incidentally, the last time that Ghana beat Algeria they went on to win the competition! Do you believe in omens? Me neither, but let's see what happens.

It's gone a little lifeless in recent minutes, so let me remind you that we're back at 6.30 pm for Senegal's clash with South Africa. Yep, back-to-back live commentaries. #plug

It's a really tight game this; one that could actually end 0-0, as so many AFCON encounters have in this edition of the competition. 15 minutes in and we're yet to see either side really threaten.

Do referees get paid by the amount of times they blow their whistle in this competition? I've seen quite a few of the games so far, and almost all of them have been presided over by pretty strict officials, who take all the fluency out of the game by regularly blowing their whistle. This bloke seems no different unfortunately.

CHANCE! 20 minutes in and we've finally seen a real chance, and it's great work from Feghouli, who makes a mug of Jonathan Mensah before cutting back for Spurs man Nabil Bentaleb, who looks like he's going to just tap it home from inside the box but he slices it and the ball trickles wide. That's where you want a goalscorer, not a defensive midfielder.

Ghana midfielder Acquah should've gone into the book for a very poor challenge on Brahimi just then, but the referee has given him the benefit of the doubt. Bizarre.

We've seen very little of Asamoah Gyan yet. He's only just recovered from malaria so maybe he's not fully fit - physically and mentally - to take part in this? Granted, it was a mild case of the disease, but malaria is malaria.

BOOKING: Acquah, having committed a shocking tackle a little earlier, goes into the book this time for what was a lesser foul on Taider there.

Oh god it's all gone a bit Jeremy Kyle here and several players have to be held back as a melee ensues after Bentaleb responded angrily to seeing Belfodil get pushed by Christian Atsu. No yellow. No reds, though.

It's not been a great game, despite what we thought prior to kickoff. We've only seen one clear chance, 25 loose passes and about 50 fouls. This must be like El Classico for Tony Pulis.

In fact, only about four of those 50 were actual fouls; the rest were the referee blowing his whistle for no reason it has to be said.

Ghana are pretty one-dimensional in their attack. They're just playing long balls from the back in search of Asamoah Gyan, who hasn't reached a single one of them as of yet. They were third or fourth favourites to win the entire competition before it started, but they've looked very ordinary in their first two games.

Superb defensive header from Madjid Bouguerra. I think it's Harrison Afful who stands up a fantastic cross, and Gyan and Jordan Ayew are just waiting to header home, but Bouguerra does brilliantly to head clear. That's why he's in the team.

We highlighted Yacine Brahimi before the game started, but the Porto playmaker hasn't really imposed himself on this as yet. He's the African Player of the Year for 2014, so he has the class, but he's been a bystander so far in this half.

Two minutes left in the half then and it looks like we're going into the break goalless, unless something bizarre happens like a goal being scored.

BOOKING: It's 1-1 in the yellow card stakes at least, as Bouguerra goes into the book for upending Jordan Ayew I think. Bouguerra put his arm around the referee so it might've been for that forward gesture rather than the foul.

It's time like this I wish those memory eraser devices from Men in Black existed in real life, because that was dreadful. We've only had one decent chance in 45 minutes, and it came from Algeria as Belfodil sliced a left-footed shot well wide from a very decent position.

Ghana haven't amounted to much at all. They've fashioned nothing by way of a goalscoring chance, and just a reminder that if they lose, and Senegal beat South Africa, then Ghana and South Africa are both out of the tournament with a Group C game to spare.

It's been extremely scrappy, extremely feisty; it's Tony Pulis's idea of El Classico basically, which should sum up how bad it's been. But let's hope the second half throws up a little more entertainment. See you soon.

RESTART: Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand we're back underway, ladies and gents. That first half was officially rock bottom, so the only way is up. Let's go!

GHANA HAVE A SHOT! It's taken 47 minutes, but Ghana finally have a shot, but it's a shocker and was never going in. It's good from Jordan Ayew, producing one or two step-overs, but his shot at the end of it clipped Medjani and that took the sting out of it as Mbolhi comfortably collected.

Algeria's front three of Brahimi, Feghouli and Belfodil have been outstandingly poor in this so far, with none of them contributing much to their attack this afternoon. That will certainly have to change if they want anything out of this. I wonder if we'll see striker Islam Slimani a little later.

CLOSE! Much, much better from Ghana. Afful swings in a cross, and Gyan does absolutely brilliantly to direct his diving header at goal, though it trickles past a stranded Mbolhi in net and the far post. Very promising though.

It seems like the difference from Ghana is they're not playing hopeless long balls to Gyan anymore. Instead, Avram Grant has targeted Algeria left-back Faouzi Ghoulam because they're going down that right-hand side every time.

DOUBLE SUB: One change apiece as Islam Slimani replaces the woeful Belfodil, while Wakasu Mubarak comes on for the booked Acquah, who has actually been brilliant in that holding role.

I've watched Slimani a few times for Sporting Lisbon this season, and he's not brilliant, but he can't do much worse than Belfodil did in his 55-minute spell.

Right, 30 minutes to go now and let's hope this one continues to improve over the last half-hour or so. Incidentally, Algeria scored three times in the final 20 minutes against South Africa, so they'll be buoyed by that late show in their pursuit of the win here.

CLOSE! More good work from Ghana, as Andre Ayew crosses for brother Jordan, who attempts a nonchalant flick into the top corner from close range, but it's just over. They've been impressive since that first half, but as we said at the break, things couldn't have gotten much worse. But Grant has showed a bit of nous to cut out the route-one nonsense that patently wasn't working. Fair play.

CLOSE! Brilliant counter-attack from Algeria, and the ball ends up with Bentaleb, who drills a left-footed shot just wide of Razak's goal. Fine effort, but he might've taken a touch to settle himself.

CHANCE! It's only an end-to-end clash now, folks! And Ghana break as Gyan latches on to a through ball but, like Bentaleb, rushed himself instead of taking his time and he scuffs his left-footed shot horribly wide. It's quite a good game now.

Ghana have been truly shocking from dead-ball situations, and that trend looks set to continue after Wakaso swings in a dreadful cross from a corner. They need to make more of these chances.

SUB: Here comes Leicester City winger Riyad Mahrez, who replaces Medhi Lacen for the final 20 minutes. He's been very decent for the Foxes so far this season, so he could well have a big impact. Bentaleb, who started on the left, will move inside to centre midfield to accomodate Mahrez's place on the wing.

BOOKING: Bentaleb goes into the book for a cynical foul on Badu. Standard booking, but you never know with these referees. They're a bit dodgy at the best of times.

SHOT! Not bad at all from second-half sub Mahrez, who takes on Daniel Amartey before firing a left-footed shot narrowly wide of the mark. He went near post when he should've gone far post, though.

SUB: Another Ghana sub as Jordan Ayew makes way for Mohammad Otoo.

He hasn't covered himself in glory this ref, and he's just made another shocking decision to award Ghana a free kick just outside the box. This is a goalscoring chance, you know. Let's see what happens.

Oh dear. It's Asamoah Gyan who stands over it, but he curls well over the bar - and it might've actually gone out of the stadium because it's not a big venue.

SUB: Final throw of the dice for Avram Grant as Solomon Asante replaces Andre Ayew. A draw doesn't do much for Ghana here to be fair so you wonder if they'll throw more bodies forward for the last five minutes or so.

Three minutes left then and, as expected, Ghana are doing all the pressing, but I'd be very surprised if they snatch this one.

What a twist! Ghana, who have been by far the better team in this second half, get their just desserts as Asamoah Gyan, who recently recovered from malaria, races away from Carl Medjani before firing past Mbolhi into the bottom corner. They've deserved that in my view.

Well, they did it. Asamoah Gyan is the hero as Ghana boost their quarter-final prospects with a late, late, late winner!