Cameroon survived a scare and a wonder goal from the Africa Cup of Nations debutants Guinea-Bissau to take command of Group A.

The Indomitable Lions came from behind to win 2-1, but for 48 minutes Guinea-Bissau were ahead and heading for a special victory after Piqueti made a run of blistering speed and skill to take the ball nearly the length of the field and lash it into the roof of the net.

Cameroon spoiled what was shaping up to be one of the great upsets in the tournament’s history when Sébastien Siani hit a first-time shot into the bottom left corner and the defender Michael Ngadeu-Ngadjui hammered low into the other corner for the winner.

That left the Guinea-Bissau goalkeeper Jonas hunched over the advertising boards behind his goal in disappointment, thinking of what might have been for a team made up mostly of players from Portugal’s second division and which had never been to a major tournament before.

For a while, they were beating the four-times African champions and former World Cup quarter-finalists, and were top of their group.

Guinea-Bissau play Burkina Faso in their final group game while Cameroon play the hosts, Gabon, whose 1-1 draw with Burkina Faso earlier on Wednesday left them struggling to reach the quarter-finals.