Banyana Banyana coach Desiree Ellis believes there is still plenty of work to do despite her team starting their Cosafa Women's Cup defence with a 2-1 victory over Malawi in Gqeberha.
Goals from Melinda Kgadiete and Noxolo Cesane were enough for Bafana to take the points despite a late surge from the visitors, who created some tense moments at the death due to an 89th minute strike from Wezzie Mvula.
This forced Banyana to scramble a bit at the end to hang on to all three points, which frustrated Ellis as her team usually set higher standards for themselves, especially as they had numerous earlier opportunities to close out the game.
"We were in control most of the time. But when we tried to change too much, we lost control. Towards the end I feel like we did not manage it well as we usually do,” Ellis told Safa.net.
“We conceded poorly and we are a team that prides themselves with clean sheets. But that is part of the game,” added Ellis.
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“But starting off with a victory is the most important thing."
Meanwhile, Group B will get under way on Wednesday as last year’s beaten finalists Botswana take on East African guest nation South Sudan (12pm start).
The Sudanese are coached by former Banyana analyst Shilene Booysen, with the South African hoping the develop the national team’s game quickly after they only played their first international in 2019.
The second game in the pool will see another guest team in action as Tanzania take on Zimbabwe (start 3:30pm) who were champions of this competition on home soil in 2011.
Banyana's next match is against Angola on Friday at 3:30pm.
@ZaahierAdams
IOL Sport