JDR Stars owner-coach Nditsheni Nemasisi strongly believes his Ivorian goalkeeper Ali Sangare will bounce back after a howler that gifted Sierra Leone a last-gasp equaliser in Sunday’s Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) Group E match in Cameroon.

Ivory Coast were leading 2-1 until Sangare’s glaring error enabled the Leone Stars to level matters in the 93rd minute via Alhaji Kamara. The 35-year-old JDR keeper bizarrely lost control of the ball, spilling it for Steven Caulker, who teed up Kamara to just tap it in.

After the incident, Sangare appeared injured and was stretched off. Outfield player Serge Aurier replaced him in goal as the Elephants had already exhausted their five substitutions. Some felt the Ivorian keeper feigned the injury because he was too embarrassed to continue playing.

Nemasisi, who coaches Sangare at the GladAfrica Championship outfit, has no doubt that the veteran shot-stopper will dust himself off and prove his critics wrong. The JDR boss feels Sangare’s experience will play a big role in his redemption.

“I believe he’ll bounce back. I have no doubt he’ll recover from that error and serve humble pie to his critics. He’s a strong keeper and he’s very experienced,’’ Nemasisi told Sowetan yesterday.

“People forget that he played in Europe [he was the property of Belgian club R. Olympic Charleroi from January until June in 2009] in the past. It’s not like he’s a youngster. His experience will help him to bounce back.”

Nemasisi is of the view that focusing more on Sangare’s blunder wasn’t fair when people said the least when he produced a decent performance to help the Elephants beat Equatorial Guinea 1-0 in their Group E opener last Wednesday.

“To put more focus on that error isn’t fair because he’d been doing well and nobody said anything. He kept a clean sheet in the first game. If he’s available in their next game against Algeria [on Thursday, 6pm SA time], I think he should play.’’