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Gordon Igesund (right) with Black Leopards boss David Thidiela (centre)

Bafana Bafana coach Gordon Igesund has praised Black Leopards following their exit from the CAF Confederation Cup on Saturday.

Igesund was in the crowd as Leopards drew 0-0 with Sudanese side Al-Merreikh, exiting at the play-off stage 3-2 on aggregate.

Lidoda Duvha had their chances in the game, most notably a free header for Rodney Ramagalela, but in the end were held scoreless by the Sudanese. Igesund says the Leopards players must take the positives from their campaign in Africa this year.

“They can learn a lot. To mention a few things, Leopards firstly were fighting a hard fight not to get relegated at the end of the previous season but they did not use that as an excuse to perform poorly in the CAF,” Igesund told the club’s website.

“They showed character to win against many unfavourable conditions and situations, which are some of the values other teams can grasp from this.

“The team did very well; they did not set a foot wrong. They went out there with the intention of winning that game from my view but it was just unfortunate that things did not go their way.

“I think with the team spirit they have they will go a long way. They can take this competition as an example of how good they are. I mean to get as far as challenging for the group stages is an achievement on its own, so yes they are heading on the right direction.”