Due to Covid-19 cases South Africa were at the disadvantage of having just four substitutes to use in their opening game.

The deadlock was broken in the 67th minute when the Swallows striker, Kagiso Malinga, found the back of the net.

Stand-in coach and former Bloemfontein Celtic assistant, Morena Ramoreboli, said they had to box smartly.

"Looking at our bench, we only had three players. We made a very thorough analysis before the game. 

"We knew that Malinga has been scoring a lot of goals for Swallows off the bench. 

"Obviously when you have him on the bench bring him on and he will give you something. He did that exactly today. These are some of the players who showed signs of maturity.

"We needed to start well. To start well was not enough. We had to also play good football. I think we played an entertaining game. we wanted to play forward as quickly as we could.

"It's now about preparing for the next match and staying humble, try to work harder and make sure we get a positive result for the next match."

In yesterday's other Group A game, Eswatini beat Lesotho 3-1.

@MorganPiek OFM Sport