Banyana Banyana coach Desiree Ellis and striker Thembi Kgatlana remain optimistic that they can overturn the 0-1 Olympics qualifiers defeat they suffered to Nigeria on Friday.

The South African senior women's football team narrowly lost to Nigeria in the first leg on Friday at MKO Abiola Stadium in Abuja. Tomorrow Banyana welcome the Super Falcons for the deciding leg at Loftus Versfeld Stadium tomorrow (7.30pm).

"I think for us in the first half, we started a bit slow and coming into the second stanza, we were better. That's the positive we need to take going back home with familiar facilities and knowing what to do in front of our fans," Kgatlana told Safa media.

"The good thing is [that] this is not a tournament. We know after the game in Pretoria, whoever wins will go through, but they have the advantage after the first leg; there is no away-goal rule.

"I also think that gives us more confidence because we are not chasing the game. We know that we have to win with a better score. We also have an advantage at home with better facilities."

Ellis shared Kgatlana's sentiments and said while they need to score, they need to make sure they don't concede.

"We have to look at the footage to see how we can rectify things and how we can be better. We need to score, but we need to be aware to not concede and make sure that we score first to get the game back on at even," Ellis said.

Ellis also expects the Super Falcons to come and defend and protect their advantage. 

"It's now up to us to take the game to them and make sure that we score and also make sure that we are settled in defence and we don't concede," she said.

"They don't have to come. They can sit back, but the onus is on us. We are going back to familiar surroundings and we hope to take the game to them."

Banyana's task is indeed not an impossible mission as they need at least a 1-0 win to force the fixture into a penalty shootout, or any two-goal margin victory to qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.