Banyana Banyana coach Desiree Ellis has graciously accepted her team's fate after they finished fourth at the Women's Africa Cup of Nations Wafcon after a penalty shoot-out defeat to Ghana at the Larbi Zaouli Stadium in Casablanca on Friday night.
The defending champions lost 4-3 on penalties against the Black Queens, a team Ellis' charges had defeated 2-0 in their opening Group C match earlier in July.
Banyana looked to be cruising to yet another victory when they took the lead through Nonhlanhla Mthanti on the stroke of halftime but poor defending after the restart got Ghana back into the match after they equalised through Alice Kusi in the 68th minute.
Ellis lamented her team's slow start and failure to control the game in the early stages as one of the reasons that gave the Ghanaians confidence, especially in the second half in which they cancelled Mthanti's goal.
We started very slowly, got into the game and got a goal when we pressed, Ellis explained after Friday's match.