Desiree Ellis: There’s still more work to be done

South Africa had a commanding display to claim a win against the Scorchers in Soweto on Saturday afternoon, courtesy of midfielder Nonhlanhla Mthambi’s brace and a penalty shot by Linda Motlhalo.

Speaking to SABC Sport, Ellis praised the players for buying into the technical team’s plan as they continue to build up the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations.

"Happy with the result, happy with the first half performance and look, we still have work to do. Out of the few things that we worked on worked really well for us. Thanks to the technical team that works a lot behind the scenes and the players because they've got to buy into what it is that we do," Ellis said.

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Ellis further unpacks the team’s performance, stating that the players showed character in terms of controlling the match despite rainy conditions in Johannesburg.

"Look, I thought the first half, we were really good, created lots of opportunities, our movement of the ball, the way we controlled the game, the tempo was really high but we expected possibly the tempo to go down in the second half, considering the condition of the field and also considering that the Hollywoodbets Super League, a lot of teams haven't played on a regular basis,” the coach explained.

“When I've watched league football over the last month, you could see in the second half there was a dip and of course, the conditions on the field, it made the game really scrappy."

The 62-year-old mentor says her priority in the two friendlies against Malawi is to build depth in the team, so that there’s enough backup should they face challenges with key players.

"I think it's important that we create depth because people always say, what happens if Jermaine [Seaposenwe] is not there, what happens if Hildah [Magaia] is not there, what happens if Bambanani [Mbane] is not there. So, we're trying to create that depth because it's really, really important."