Ellis happy with improved Banyana Banyana performance against England

By Ayanda Nyuswa 

Banyana Banyana coach Desiree Ellis expressed her delight at the improved performance her team showed in their international friendly clash against European Champions England. The South African senior women’s national team showed great tactical organisation and at times good attacking play, as they suffered a narrow 2-1 defeat against the second-ranked Lionesses at Coventry, England on Tuesday.

England captain Leah Williamson opened the scoring in the 12th minute after the South African defence failed to clear their lines following a set piece. Nine minutes later English midfielder Grace Clinton headed in a cross from Maya le Tissier to give the home side a comfortable two-goal lead into the break.

Unlike the Denmark game where they conceded five second half goals, Banyana Banyana showed good tactical organisation and fitness levels to prevent the Lionesses from adding to their two first half strikes, and also created some decent goal-scoring opportunities. Leah Williamson went from hero to villain as Thembi Kgatlana latched onto her misplaced pass, and slotted the ball past goalkeeper Mary Earps to score South Africa’s first ever goal against England.

“There were a lot of things we didn’t do right against Denmark because they played similarly, with overloading on the sides and switching play,” said coach Desiree Ellis after the match.

“I thought the first few minutes we gave set pieces away and they scored from one. The second goal, we speak about winning the second ball, winning the third ball, we didn’t do that. We rectified that we brought players on who we thought could make a difference. We had two really good chances in the first half but we also had chances in the second half, but we are very happy. We always says that we look for improved performance in all areas and today we had that improved performance. Defensively we were well organised, players put their bodies on the line we had good chances, and if we had taken those chances we might be talking something different, that is areas that we still need to work on.” Ellis concluded. 

Image: iDiskiTimes