South Africa goalkeeper, Ronwen Williams has taken responsibility for the error that led to their 2-1 defeat to Nigeria on Wednesday night.
The result saw Bafana Bafana exit the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations, while the Super Eagles qualified for the semi-final.
The game was heading to extra-time before Williams flapped at Moses Simon’s corner kick, allowing William Troost-Ekong an easy finish with just one minute of normal time remaining.
“I’m very very disappointed. It’s a bad way to go out of the tournament.
“Last moment lapse in concentration from myself, it’s a bad way to go out but we lovingly learn from these moments.
“These mistakes must make us stronger so we learn from this. I’m not going to let this weigh me down. I will stay positive and reach for the stars,” Williams told ACL Sports.
The 27-year-old goalkeeper, however, insisted that he is not bothered by the backlash that awaits them back home.
“I think we gave it our all. Positive criticism is fine. We know as a team that we didn’t play well in the group stages. We don’t need other people to tell us, we know as a team, the coach said it and you could see we played much better once we came out of the group.
“Against Egypt was one of our best games, today we played okay and we know we could’ve played better but we learn from the mistakes and stay together,” he said.