The Sparrow Hawks of Togo on Friday in Stade d’Oyem suffered a 3-1 defeat to Morocco in the Africa Cup of Nations Group C match.

Togo went into the game with the hope of shocking Morocco to increase their chances of making it to the quarters but they shot themselves in the foot.

Dossevi scored the first goal for the Togo in the 5th minute but Aziz Bouhaddouz pulled one back for Morocco in the 14th minute.

Eight minutes later Morocco went into lead as Romain Saiss bagged the second with Al-Nesri scroring his third goal later the game.

Togo started on a high note with Dossevi opening the scoring in the 5th minute following a thrilling counter-attack that was ignited from well within their own half.

With a goal down Morocco started to dominate possession and within minutes Togo’s joy was short-lived as Aziz Bouhaddouz pulled the Atlas Lions level from a corner-kick in the 14th minute with Agassa nowhere to be found as the Moroccan forward was left with an easy finish.

Togo lost concentration after Morroco got their equalizer punishing on 26th minute when Romain Saïss delivered from a set-piece, this time with the decisive touch to make it 2-1 before the break.

Minutes later Togo launched an attack but Mohand with a diving save denying Adebayor the equaliser .

In the second half, Morocco dominated the early exchanges once more, but its Togo who go close as Adebayor again got a chance to send his header but his attempt went over the crossbar.

Their intended comeback was short lived moments after Morocco made their changes.It was in the 72nd minute when En-Nesyri hammered home a left-footed shot from range and out of the poor goalkeeping Morroco made it 3-1.

From that point Togo struggled to find a way out of their half with Morocco pressing as a team, working very hard as a unit as they aimed to hold onto their lead.

Togo came close in the 81st minute when Ayite with a weaving run into the box was unlucky as he could only succeed in directing his resulting shot wide of the mark for the last chance of the game.

Having registered the win,Morocco are one point behind DR Congo and one ahead of the Ivory Coast, who they face in their final group game in Oyem next Tuesday.

Togo are at the bottom of the stansings with just one point, and must win against DR Congo in Port-Gentil in their last match for them to have any mathematical chances of progressing to the quarter finals.

Line-ups:
Morocco: Mohand; Mendyl, Da Costa, Benatia, Saïss – El Ahmadi, Fajr (Ait Bennasser 81′), Boussoufa – El Kaddouri (En-Nesyri 60′), Dirar, Bouhaddouz (Alioui 90′)

Togo: Agassa; Djene, Ouro-Akoriko, Romao, Gakpe – Bebou, Atakora (Agbégniadan 89′), Ayite, Dossevi (Segbefia 83′) – Laba (Boukari 73′), Adebayor