Mohamed Aboutreika hit a brace as Egypt took a huge step towards the quarter-finals at the African Nations Cup with a 3-0 victory over Sudan.

Aboutreika scored twice in the last 12 minutes adding to a Hosni Abd-Rabou penalty in the first half as the Pharaohs moved to six points in Group C, three ahead of Cameroon and Zambia in second place.

However, the defending champions were made to work hard for the win by the unfancied Sudanese, who started out strongly.

In the fourth minute Haitham Mustafa laid the ball on for Haytham Tambal on the left side of the penalty area, but goalkeeper Essam El-Hadary did well to hold on to a firm shot.

Six minutes later Mohamed Zidan created the first opportunity for Egypt when he managed to pull away from his marker down the middle, before Omer Bakhit did enough to put the striker out of his stride.

At the other end, a corner came too quickly to Alaeldin Babiker at the back post and his tame shot was comfortably gathered by El-Hadary.

A cracking 25-yard drive after 19 minutes from Mustafa was too hot for the Egypt custodian to handle as it bounced out of his hands, before being gathered at the second attempt.

Ten minutes later the Pharaohs made Sudan pay for their earlier misses when Hosni capitalised on a failed clearance and charged into the box, before being brought down by Elmuiz Abdalla.

The Ismaily striker himself got up to convert the penalty, but only after the referee insisted on a retake.

In the 38th minute, Zidan blazed over from an acute angle after being set up by Amr Zaki, who himself put a close-range header into the crowd as the Hassan Shehata's side went into the break with a slender lead.

After the restart Sayed Moawad raced through on the left side of the penalty area, but his shot was straight at Abdalla as the Egyptians threatened to grab a second.

In the 55th minute, Zaki picked out Zidan on the right and the pacy forward shot well on target, but he was thwarted by a fine save from Abdalla.

Twelve minutes from time the lead was doubled by Aboutreika after a slick move by the Egyptian attack.

The Al-Ahly midfielder split the Sudanese defence with a fine pass to Zaki on the left, who in turn laid the ball back into the centre of the penalty area for his team-mate to easily finish.

And it was three five minutes later when Aboutreika received another good pass, this time from Emad Motaeb, on the left side of the penalty area and beat Abdalla from a tight angle as Egypt took charge of Group C.