If you look at both matches, we were clearly the better side – South Sudan coach Besong

Despite winning only one of the two games against Uganda Cranes, South Sudan coach Cyprian Besong Ashu believes his side was better over two legs.

The Bright Stars shocked The Cranes at Nyayo in the ongoing 2021 Afcon qualifiers with a 1-0 victory courtesy of a strike by former KCCA and Vipers forward Tito Okello.

Cranes were made to suffer for victory in the reverse fixture at Kitende on Thursday last week and had to wait till the 85^th minute to net the winner through substitute Halid Lwaliwa but had earlier survived a would be penalty when Ochaya appeared to have fouled Makweth Wol in the area.

“I’m proud of the boys. We were a bit unlucky in the first leg but if you look at both matches, we were clearly the better side,” Ashu told Daily Nation after the game.

“My players fought really hard and never complained even when I pushed them to do extra work. This victory belongs to them and I am extremely proud of them.”

Ashu isn’t looking at qualifying for Afcon at the moment but the target is a bigger picture for the nation’s football.

“If you look at our three previous matches, you can see the progress we are making, game by game.

“If we qualify for Afcon, it will be a big boost, but for we’re looking at the bigger picture. We’re working on building the football structures in order to compete in the near future and we have had tremendous progress.”

With three points, South Sudan still have a chance to qualify for their maiden Cup of Nations finals with maximum points from their remaining matches against Malawi and Burkina Faso.