BRING IT ON

Ellis vows her side will pull out all the stops at Wolfson Stadium

Banyana looking to make it three wins

Banyana Banyana coach Desiree Ellis will be hoping her troops portray the same fighting spirit they had against Botswana in their Cosafa Women’s Championship on Friday, when the team plays Malawi at Wolfson Stadium in Port Elizabeth on Monday (3.30pm).

The national side sneaked a goal in the dying minutes of the game to beat Botswana 1-0 in their previous match and the victory placed Banyana on top of Group A with six points from two games. Monday’s match is the last game of the group stages and a win or a draw will see the national side progress to the next stage of the tournament.

Banyana have only had two days to prepare for Malawi and Ellis said she planned to utilise that time and get her team ready for The Flames.

“We have two days before we prepare for the next game. We will sit down and savour the moment because I think this was a good victory and a hardfought win,” the coach said on Friday.

“So we won’t even think about Malawi right now we will start thinking about them later. We will prepare for that game and we will be ready for that game.” Speaking about their win on Friday, Ellis said: “I think that the weather played a huge part. It was very difficult for both teams to play.

“In the first half we tried to keep the ball on the ground but it was still very difficult to play. We created a few opportunities and in the second half we came with the same plan. We made a couple of changes and we got a penalty which was saved by the goalkeeper.

“We kept pushing . We wanted to win the game so we kept pushing and pushing. I think we learned from last year’s Cosafa as well. The team never gives up they play right till the end.”

They were rewarded for their persistence when Jermaine Seoposenwe found the net in the final minute of the game.

“It was a fantastic goal by Jermaine Seoposenwe but all credit to Botswana... they fought and fought but I think we wanted it more,” said the former Banyana midfielder.

“I think it was magnificent character that they showed. It’s a second game in a row that the

People think it was easy but I don’t think there are any easy teams

opposing goalkeeper gets the player of the match. It shows that were really pushing to get the victory.

“I think getting six points in the group so far is great. This is not an easy group. People think it was easy but I don’t think there are any easy teams.

“You have to be on top of your game all the time because if you let it slip there is always an opportunity.”

Monday’s fixtures:

At Wolfson Stadium: 1pm: Zimbabwe v Uganda; 3.30pm: South Africa v Malawi

At Westbourne Oval: 1pm: Swaziland v Namibia; 3.30pm: Botswana v Madagascar