Ten-man Cameroon picked all three points after defeating Angola 1-0 in their first Group B encounter at the Huye Stadium on Sunday night.

Yazid Atouba Emane converted a well-taken freekick in the 21st minute to give the Lions the lead in a tense game that saw the Palancas Negras fail to find the back of the net.

Angola’s Adriano Belmiro failed to punish Cameroon’s defensive blunder in the second minute after Aaron Mbimbe headed towards him in the penalty box.

Six minutes later, Bruno Fernando came close to scoring but the Cameroonians grew into the game thereafter dominating play as their defense settled in.

Emane’s freekick gave them more confidence as the Angolans found themselves on the back foot before the half hour mark.

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Angola picked momentum in the second half and captain Paulo Joao Diniz came close but it went straight to Cameroonian goalkeeper Hugo.

Cameroon lost Joseph Ngwem in the 66th minute when he was awarded the first red card of the tournament for a second bookable offense for a bad tackle however, the Lions held on to win and go second in Group B behind DR Congo who thrashed Ethiopia 3-0 earlier.

Cameroon take on Ethiopia in their second Group B encounter on January 21 at 6pm at Huye Stadium.