Luanda — Ghana have faced all sorts of demons at the Africa Nations Cup yet have made it through to the quarterfinals at the tournament.

Playing in a group disrupted by the withdrawal of Togo, then losing to Côte d'Ivoire in their opening game and having to deal with a myriad of injuries, the Black Stars have had their backs to the wall in Angola.

But they got the goal that counted on Tuesday as they beat Burkina Faso 1-0 to finish second in the Group B standings behind Côte d'Ivoire.

Dede Ayew's swooping header in the 30th minute proved decisive in a game of spoilt chances that struggled to come alive in front of a small crowd at the November 11 stadium.

But it was a result they merited as there were more chances they might have taken to make safe the victory.

Their reward is a dubious one given their growing list of injuries. They now meet hosts Angola in the quarterfinals in Luanda on Sunday.

Their squad was rocked on the eve of the tournament by injury blows to key players – the latest being Michael Essien. Their position was made even more difficult by the exclusion from the squad of Sulley Muntari on disciplinary grounds.

Essien suffered a knee injury on the eve of the game and is ruled out of the tournament, leaving coach Milovan Rajevac to select from a increasingly youthful set of players.

"The one good thing is that they run hard and for a long time because they are younger," he said after Tuesday's win. "But they had a tough psychological and physical test today."

Burkina Faso needed only draw to qualify but put out a more attacking side than they had in the goalless draw with the Ivorians at the start of the tournament, when they played an excellent defensive game for a goalless draw.

Jonathan Pitroipa toiled effortlessly through the game down the wing, taking on defenders with his pace and causing panic in the Black Stars' defence. His run in the eighth minute was the best of the lot as he cut inside after outpacing the defence but just could not force the ball past goalkeeper Richard Kingson.

But in the 66th minute Burkina Faso's campaign looked to come to an end when defender Mamadou Tall picked up a caution for an innocuous-looking challenge and had to go off because he had already been booked. Handicapped by the disadvantage of being a man down, Burkina Faso's search for the equaliser that could have put them into the quarterfinals lost momentum after that.