The Zebras of Botswana coach Stanley Tshosane has said four-time winners and pre-tournament favourites Ghana struggled against them on their Africa Cup of Nations debut Tuesday.

Debutants Botswana, in many people’s eyes, were in for a mauling against the 2010 World Cup quarterfinalists in a Group D match in Franceville Tuesday, but in the end the underdogs finished the stronger even though they eventually fell by the odd goal.

“Ghana are a good team, but at the end of the game, they were not that good regardless of the red card they got,” said Tshosane, who marked his 55th birthday last week.

“I was not happy with the result but I was okay with the performance of the team especially in the second half.

“We were cautious at the beginning as we have never played against Ghana before. We wanted to study their game and we did not want to concede an early goal.

“Our strategy to get at least a point from this game almost worked but we got into the game rather late.

“In the second half, we had more chances as we brought in a second striker to support Jerome (Ramatlhakwana) and that way we had more chances to reach the opponents’ goal.”

Striker Ramatlhakwana, who was fouled by Black Stars skipper John Mensah on his way to goal midway through the second half, said Botswana will now be taken more seriously by the other teams in this competition.

“From now on, a lot of people will take us seriously,” said the out of contract centre forward, who scored five goals in the qualifiers.

“We are disappointed with the result but we showed that we did not come here to add to the numbers.”

Skipper Mompati Thuma lamented that his team let in “a silly goal” and that Senegalese referee Badara Diatta “over protected” Asamoah Gyan the striker he was detailed to man