Equatorial Guinea beat Guinea-Bissau 4-2 in a 2023 Africa Cup of Nations Group A match at the Alassane Ouattara Stadium in Abidjan on Thursday afternoon.

The win elevated the National Thunder to the top of the group standings, and they will now wrap up their Group A campaign with an encounter against the tournament hosts, Ivory Coast on 22 January.

Guinea-Bissau, on the other hand, remained at the bottom of the group standings after recording their second successive defeat in Group A and they will now square off with Nigeria on 22 January.

The National Thunder got off to a bright start and they broke the deadlock through Emilio Esue after some poor defending by the African Wild Dogs. Esue beat goalkeeper Djoco from close range to hand Equatorial Guinea a 1-0 lead in the 21st minute.

Guinea-Bissau responded by surging forward in numbers - applying some pressure on their opponents' defence. Parity was restored in the 37th minute when Esteban Obiang netted an unfortunate own-goal, and the score was 1-1 during the halftime break.

However, National Thunder made a strong start to the second half and they scored through Josete Miranda just a minute into the second half to make it 2-1 to Equatorial Guinea. It was soon 3-1 to Equatorial Guinea when Esue turned home Basilio Ndong's cross in the 51st minute.

Esue was hungry for goals on the day, and he deservedly grabbed his hat-trick in the 61st minute to extend Equatorial Guinea's lead to 4-1. Substitute Ze Turbo netted for Guinea-Bissau in stoppage time, but the goal proved to be a mere consolation as Equatorial Guinea held on to secure a 4-2 win.