Bafana Bafana coach Stuart Baxter believes goalkeeper Ronwen Williams was better suited to take on Ivory Coast in their opening Africa Cup of Nations Group D encounter.

The SA national team will be hoping to bounce back following their narrow defeat by the Elephants at the Al Salam Stadium in Cairo on Monday.

South Africa will next take on Namibia in the second Group D encounter before they end their group-stage campaign against Morocco on 1 July.

The Bafana Bafana coach said tactically his side showed promise and he could not blame the team for how they approached the game. He said after changing two players, the reaction of players tactically, was acceptable.

Speaking on why he opted to start Williams between the sticks rather than Darren Keet, Baxter said: ‘Darren was suited for the Libya game while Ronwen was suited for this particular one. Darren has been a bit inactive and Ronwen’s reflexes were suited for this game, his shotstopping and distribution were suited for this match and I thought he did very well.’

Bafana Bafana against Namibia is set to take place on Friday evening with kick-off set for 10pm.