Banyana Banyana remain undefeated against Lesotho, making it four wins from four games since June 2018, as they defeated their neighbours 2-0 at the University of Johannesburg’s Soweto Campus on Tuesday.

South Africa played Lesotho in two international friendlies, the first being played on Saturday, in which the youthful side picked by head coach Dr Desire Ellis displayed their ability.

Sibongile Ntoane opened the scoring in the early stages of the game, grabbing her first goal in a Banyana Banyana uniform.

South Africa continued to pile on the pressure, dominating the first half and creating chances but failing to convert. Their efforts were eventually rewarded on the stroke of half time, as Lesotho failed to clear the ball effectively and Unathi Simayile prodded the ball into the back of the net to put the game out of reach.

Ellis said she saw improvement from Saturday’s clash, but her side’s performance lacked in certain other areas.

“I think that there were some good moments, especially when we moved the ball around and our movement of the ball. But there were also not so good moments, especially when we started running with the ball. I think when you play in the Hollywood Bets League, you can get away with that. But when you play here, we spoke about one of the tactical agreements with them was [to] move off and on the ball. We didn’t see a lot of that today,” said Ellis, after the match.

Ellis used the international friendlies against Lesotho and the training camp preceding it as a chance to evaluate younger players and give them experience the top level, which she believes was valuable for bot the national team and the players.

“When you speak to the players, the first thing they said was tough. They said it’s not as easy as what it looks from the outside,” said Ellis.

“So we wanted to give them a taste of what it is to be in the national team. Because if and when they do come back, it’s not a shock. They’ll know now that I need to go work. They know this was this group. They know when the more experienced players come in, their level is going to be even higher. So they know that they have to go work. They know that they have to get ready for that moment.”