Bafana Bafana let their fans down by not qualifying for the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations‚ coach Shakes Mashaba said in a humble and honest admission on the team’s arrival back from their 4-0 thrashing of Gambia.

South Africa finally notched their first win of the Gabon 2017 qualifiers far too late‚ a brace each from Thamsanqa Gabuza and masterful new Bafana star Keagan Dolly accounting for Gambia at a packed 30 000-seater Independence Stadium in Bakau on Saturday.

But with just three points from their previous four games‚ and Cameroon qualifying for the next Afcon with a 1-0 win against Mauritania in Nouachott on Friday night from Group M‚ Bafana’s biggest ever away win holds little more than promise for the future.

“For a long time I have not smiled on the bench. But on Saturday I had to because of the good football that they played‚” Mashaba said on the national team’s return at OR Tambo International Airport on Monday.

“That alone has given us this oomph‚ to say‚ there is a lot of potential in this country.

“We didn’t qualify. But even in the Mauritania game away we were killed by the red card.

“But finally I would like to say to our fans‚ we have let them down. I know they would have loved for us to go and play in the Afcon.

“We are saying to them‚ ‘Stay behind the team. There is a World Cup coming in Russia’. We are saying to the fans‚ ‘Keep following us and we will make you happy’.”

After qualifying for the 2015 Afcon finals in style‚ unbeaten and at the expense of defending champions Nigeria‚ this campaign has not gone Bafana’s way.

Going forward‚ and assuming he keeps his job‚ Mashaba and his technical staff might do some introspection on what went right in reaching 2015‚ and the mistakes made not getting to 2017.

Research of the opposition seemed a glaring deficiency in this campaign. Bafana simply do not have the strength to take on even countries like 165th-ranked Gambia – whose 0-0 draw against SA in Durban put Mashaba’s team under such pressure in the campaign opener last year – by imposing their own style and gameplan.

“From this qualifying campaign‚ I think the first thing was planning. If you look at the qualifiers for the 2015 Nations Cup‚ I think our planning was good‚” Mashaba said of what has been learnt from these qualifiers.

“In 2015 our travelling was good. And the fixtures were good for us because we played back-to-back. In these qualifiers‚ you play‚ then you wait a few months to play again‚ and that affects the momentum of the team.

“And what we are also looking at is the team spirit of the boys. Try to keep them happy and they will give you what you want.”

The overwhelmingly positive aspect of Saturday’s victory was the virtuoso performance of Dolly.

The Mamelodi Sundowns star provided the assists for both Gabuza’s goals. In the second half Dolly struck two beautiful long-range goals.

Apart from representing Sundowns in the Caf Champions League group stages‚ Dolly’s next focus is on a truly global stage‚ as the star player for the SA Under-23 team that contests the Olympic Games in Brazil in August.

What seems certain is that a new Bafana star has been born and that Dolly is set to be one of the most important players going forward for Bafana in their Visons 2018 and 2022.

“He is‚” Mashaba said. “On Saturday he was very influential. He deserved to score those two goals.

“We do worry about the pressure on a young man’s shoulders. But I think with the club that he plays for‚ where the coach [Pitso Mosimane] is a very good man‚ I think he will definitely guide Keagan toward how to approach all these games.”

Bafana wrap up the qualifiers against Mauritania at home in early September.