Crowd trouble marred the end of the African Nations Cup semi-final between hosts Equatorial Guinea and Ghana in Malabo as the Ghana fans were forced to flee the stands after being pelted with bottles.
The match, which Ghana won 3-0, was suspended for around half an hour when the Black Stars supporters had to leave the stands and take refuge behind one of the goals after being bombarded with objects from rival supporters.
Bottles could be seen scattered across the running track which surrounded the pitch, while there were reports of tear gas being fired into the stands in a bid to control the Equatorial Guinea fans.
The referee stopped the match and the players were left waiting in the middle of the pitch to find out if the match would restart, with the Equatorial Guinea players pleading with their fans to calm down.
Plenty of fans left the stadium as the suspension dragged on, while a helicopter hovered over the ground.
Ghana supporters appeared to be escorted away by police through the tunnel, with reports of Equatorial Guinea supporters waiting for them outside the stadium.
The match had eight minutes left to go when the trouble occurred and it looked set to be abandoned, but incredibly was allowed to continue, players clearing bottles off the pitch before the game restarted in the 90th minute. Three minutes of injury-time were played without incident.
Equatorial Guinea only stepped in to host the tournament at the 11th hour after Morocco pulled out due to the Ebola epidemic.
Having never qualified for a World Cup, their only previous African Nations Cup campaign was in 2012 when they reached the quarter-finals.
They went one better than that by knocking Tunisia out in the last eight in the most dramatic of circumstances, but that achievement was soured by Thursday night's events.
Leicester's Ghanaian player Jeff Schlupp wrote on Twitter: " Absolutely embarrassing! Just let us go to the final and win this tournament in peace! #Ghana #BlackStars."
Ghana's win came thanks to two goals at the end of the first half and a third in the second and booked a final meeting with Ivory Coast, although the match action was overshadowed by off-field events.
Avram Grant's side twice punished mistakes to all but kill off the underdogs, Jordan Ayew converting a 42nd-minute penalty after Felipe Ovono had raced out of his goal and clattered into Kwesi Appiah and then, three minutes later, Wakaso Mubarak finishing off a swift counter-attack after Equatorial Guinea had left themselves wide open at the back following a corner.
Andre Ayew tapped home a third in the 75th minute.
The opening goal arrived following a costly rush of blood from Equatorial Guinea goalkeeper Ovono.
He raced rashly out to meet Appiah on the corner of the area, but only succeeded in sending him flying. It was a blatant penalty and Ovono could count himself fortunate to only receive a yellow card.
Jordan Ayew's penalty was coolly converted as he waited for Ovono to commit before slotting the ball into the other corner.
Ghana struck again before the break and again the hosts had only themselves to blame.
Kike's corner was headed clear at the near post and set Ghana on the counter. Equatorial Guinea had committed far too many people forward, leaving themselves wide open at the back.
Ghana had a three-on-one scenario and took advantage as Christian Atsu squared the ball to Wakaso, who shifted back inside his marker before firing powerfully home.
Ghana should have made it three early in the second half, but Andre Ayew could only head meekly wide from six yards following Jonathan Mensah's header back across goal. It was a glaring miss.
Ovono flew off his line again to close down Appiah, but this time his judgement was right and he saved from the striker with his feet.
Andre Ayew did find the net with a tap-in in the 75th minute.
Ovono raced out again to meet Appiah and his challenge held up but did not halt the striker. Appiah recovered the ball, looked up and picked out his team-mate in the centre to tuck the ball home.
Ghana looked set for a routine final 15 minutes, but the violence in the stands made it anything but, with their fans forced to take shelter for their own safety.
When the match did finish, following much toing and froing between the match officials, players and coaches and competition officials, Grant and counterpart Esteban Becker embraced and there were handshakes between the players.
Equatorial Guinea face a third-place play-off against DR Congo in the same stadium on Saturday, with Ghana and Ivory Coast meeting in the final in Bata a day later.
Source: PA
