An angry supporter attempted to strike the Ghana coach Chris Hughton after their upset defeat at the Africa Cup of Nations and was taken away by police, team officials confirmed on Monday. Ghana succumbed to a stoppage-time goal against Cape Verde, the smallest of the 24 teams at the tournament in Ivory Coast, in one of several shock results on Sunday. Hughton was accosted at the team hotel as Ghana returned from the match but the angry fan was intercepted by security officials. The manager was also subjected to a volley of a verbal abuse, officials reported. “The fan approached the coach to express his disappointment at the outcome of the game and told the coach to improve or leave the job,” said the Ghana team media liaison Henry Asante. “It was a verbal confrontation. There was no physical contact. Later he was taken away by the security.” It was a second successive defeat by an underrated opponent after Ghana lost in the World Cup qualifiers to the Comoros Islands. “We are incredibly, hugely disappointed with the result. We came into the game with a gameplan,” Hughton said afterwards. “We changed the way of playing, the system a bit so that we could start on the front foot. We thought the team that were put out was certainly a more offensive team. This was our intention. I think it rocked us the [first] goal that we conceded but I thought we got back into the game.” Ghana were behind after 17 minutes at a match in which they were highly fancied and fielded a team full of players based at European clubs. They equalised in the second half but were beaten by a last-gasp strike from Garry Rodrigues. “At that stage [when Ghana equalised] it looked like we could go on and win it. We are hugely, hugely disappointed with our result,” Hughton said. “And I know, and this group of players also know, how the Ghanaian people see this game, see this tournament and our expectations going into this one.” The former Ireland international Hughton, whose father hailed from Ghana, has been coach of the team since March, having helped them at the 2022 World Cup finals in Qatar as a technical adviser. His record is four wins in 11 games.