Cote d'Ivoire ran out a 3-0 win over Gambia at the Independence Stadium to stay top of Group C in 2014 World Cup qualifying.

Didier Drogba and Gervinho were missing for the Elephants but they were not needed as Lacina Traore, Wilfried Bony and Yaya Toure were all on target.

The game got off to a slow start, as Gambia had nothing to fight for while Ivory Coast took some time to get their game going.

The hosts enjoyed the first opportunity of the game but Yankuba Ceesay couldn't hit the target while Samateh wasted another glorious chance with a weak effort that came back off the far post and into the hands of the goalkeeper.

Those misses would be punished when Traore opened the scoring on the second attempt in the 15th minute after being played in with a long ball forward.

Gambia somehow missed the chance to place the ball in an empty net with two strikers lurking and the missed chances continued for the rest of the first-half.

Ivory Coast were far less wasteful and in the 65th minute Bony finished off a pass from Traore with a lunge that saw him push the ball past the goalkeeper.

The Scorpions struggled to create chances despite remaining lively and Toure wrapped up the win for the visitors with a superb free-kick late on.