While Banyana Banyana have secured a quarterfinal spot in the Women’s African Cup of Nations (Wafcon) with a game to spare, coach Desiree Ellis feels her side could have done better in their game against debutantes Burundi.

Banyana defeated Burundi 3-1 in their second game of Group C and booked their spot in the final eight of the tournament being held in Morocco.

Thembi Kgatlana, Amogelang Motau and Linda Motlhalo scored for SA who are looking to win the competition for the first time.

Ellis’ team has qualified for the next round because they kicked off the tournament with a morale-boosting 2-1 victory over 11-time champions Nigeria.

Despite the win against Burundi, Banyana could have done much better than they did.

They had a number of scoring opportunities including an unsuccessful penalty kick by Jermaine Seoposenwe.

“I thought that we did enough on the field to get the result, but I felt that we over-elaborated at times and most of the shots were practically straight to the goalkeeper. I thought she was going to be the player of the match,” Ellis said.

“We tried to change it a bit and it looked better. We created a lot of opportunities.

“But once again when we attacked our defence was not ready for a counterattack against us. We have to work on that. We are always looking for improved performances, but today (Thursday) was not a good day in terms of that. However, the result is important as well,” she said.

While to some it appeared Banyana had underestimated the Burundians, Ellis has assured that wasn’t the case.

“We have never ever underestimated a team and we will never underestimate any team,” Ellis said, pointing out that the weather conditions in Morocco also had an impact on her side’s performance.

“I think there’s a lot of factors, but we are not looking for excuses. At times we played pretty good football and at other times we didn’t.

“I think the heat could have also played a huge role. We played under a heat that we are not used to, but nonetheless we could have kept possession better and we still could have not played the long ball.”