They doubled their tally in the 56th minute, Ekambi completing his brace after running in the blindside of the backline before scoring from Martin Hongla’s brilliant pass.
Cameroon’s hope of a first Africa Cup of Nations title since 2017 remained on track after edging out a resilient Gambia side 2-0 at the Japoma Stadium in Douala on Saturday to book a slot in the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations semi-finals.
Karl Toko Ekambi was the toast for the hosts, scoring twice within seven minutes of the second half to send the Indomitable Lions to the last four.
They had to overcome a resilient Gambia side, who were making their debut at the tournament. The home side, powered by a sizeable crowd, commanded most parts of the game especially in the first half.
Searching for his seventh goal of the tournament, Vincent Aboubakar came very close in three instances. The Cameroonian skipper tried a backheel flick from a Momo Ngamaleu cross, but it came off a Gambia defender for a corner.
He came close again, this time his header from a Jean-Charles Castelletto cross going inches wide with the keeper well beaten. He had another brilliant opportunity with a point blank header from a Samuel Oum Guet cross, but Gambia keeper Baboucarr Gaye made a brilliant close range block.
In the second half, Cameroon were off with vigour, knowing that they should not let the game roll beyond the regular 90 minutes.
Just four minutes in, they broke the deadlock when Ekambi glanced in a header from inside the box off a well weighted Collins Fai cross.
They doubled their tally in the 56th minute, Ekambi completing his brace after running in the blindside of the backline before scoring from Martin Hongla’s brilliant pass.
Despite the setback, Gambia tried to give a push and goalkeeper Andre Onana who had been a spectator for most of the game was made to work finally with a shot from range by Musa Barrow but he handled it well.
Gambia couldn’t conjure much on the attacking front and Cameroon saw off the result to make the semis.