Bafana Bafana captain Ronwen Williams has praised his side’s ‘never-say-die attitude’ following their performance against Egypt.

South Africa suffered their first defeat at the Africa Cup of Nations when they fell to a 1-0 loss to Egypt at the Grand Stade D’Agadir in Agadir.

They currently remain in second place in Group B with three points after two matches played so four in the group stages.

Bafana will now take on Zimbabwe in their final Group B fixture when the two sides meet at the Stade de Marrakech in Marrakech.

“We are disappointed. The objective in the game was not to lose. We wanted to win or at least get a point to secure qualification, but it wasn’t to be,” Williams said.

“We feel a bit hard done by because of the decisions made on the field. We feel it was a soft penalty, and obviously when you look at what happened on the other side towards the end, we should have got a penalty.

“But that is how football is. We take the lessons and the good things and move on, continuing to believe in this team.

“We knew they would sit deep because they were a man down. They were just defending their box. We created a few half-chances and some decent chances, but it wasn’t to be.

“We knew they would sit deep and not give us space in behind, and that is what we look for. There are a lot of lessons to take and we will grow from this.

“The performance was amazing. They came with a different approach and we didn’t expect a back five. They also put a lot of numbers in midfield, so the first 10 minutes were about adjusting.

“The fight and the never-say-die attitude were there. We left everything on the field, we just couldn’t get the goal. I am proud of these boys. We showed we can compete against the best. Now it’s about looking forward to the next game on Monday. We will definitely qualify.”