Bafana Bafana coach Stuart Baxter has defended his side’s approach in their 1-0 loss to Morocco in their final African Cup of Nations Group D game saying that there are ‘many ways to win a football match’.

Bafana came into their last group game against the North African giants knowing that a win would certainly seal progression to the knockout stages but also that a draw would also likely be enough to see them go through as one of the top ranked third placed sides from the group stages.

Despite a positive start the South Africans struggled for fluency against Morocco and thus were finding it difficult to break down their opponents as the game wore on.

It appeared as though Bafana had settled for a draw only for a late Moubarak Boussoufa to deny them the point and place their spot in the competition in jeopardy.

Speaking to media after the game the Bafana coach was quick to defend his side’s approach to the encounter.

‘If you look at the situation we had before the game, it wasn’t certain that we would need three points. There are many ways to try and get the three points and I think if we attacked Morocco and played with a very high backline, they would of enjoyed the game a lot more,’ said the Bafana coach.

Baxter did not want to blame his players for the defeat but admitted that he was disappointed in the way they lost the game.

‘I think the players played well in terms of their distances, in terms of their angles of pressing and in terms of defending crosses and we also had situations where we could have done better in the final third.

‘There is many ways to win a game of football, but losing in the last 30 seconds from a set-play, which I think was quite a cheap set-play, then I think its not a time for me to start questioning the players, it’s a time to accept a result that we didn’t want, but there are many ways to win a game of football,’ concluded Baxter.