Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang spurned a golden opportunity as hosts Gabon exited the Africa Cup of Nations at the group stages having been held to a goalless draw by Cameroon at Stade de l'Amitié.

The perfect chance fell the 27-year-old’s way with only a couple of minutes on the clock when he was found at the back post by Denis Bouanga but inexplicably put the ball wide from two or three yards out.

Gabon failed to carve out any further chances of note until the 90th minute when Bouanga agonisingly struck the post and then Fabrice Ondoa pulled off a remarkable save to deny Sunderland's Didier Ndong from the rebound.

There were tears at the final whistle as José Antonio Camacho’s side become the first host nation to fail to progress from the group stages since Tunisia in 1994. Meanwhile, Cameroon finish second, behind Burkina Faso who recorded a 2-0 victory over Guinea-Bissau.

TALKING POINT

That Aubameyang miss. You would have put your house on the skipper scoring to give his side a dream start but instead it proved to be a nightmare for Gabon and that opportunity will haunt the Dortmund striker for quite some time. He may have scored twice in earlier matches but in truth Aubameyang had a poor tournament, though he wasn’t provided the adequate service in midfield.