South Africa U17 girls suffered a 1-0 defeat to the senior women's national side in a pre-2020 Cosafa Women's Cup tournament friendly at the Safa National Technical Centre in Johannesburg.
Bantwana are preparing to claim the Cosafa U17 Women's Cup title billed to be staged from November 4 to 13 in Nelson Mandela Bay, having finished as runners against Uganda last year.
On the other hand, Banyana Banyana are gearing up for a title defence and a fourth in a row on home ground at the Cosafa Women's Cup at the same venue, beginning from November 3 to 15.
The two teams, who had been in camp for over a week, locked horns in a test-match but Simphiwe Dludlu's girls bowed to Desiree Ellis' side before heading to Nelson Mandela Bay.
On her assessments, Ellis hailed her side's display but challenged them to improve their fitness level before the regional showpiece.
“I think the game went well, it was a test because we had a lot of questions with regards to the fitness, technical preparedness, tactical understanding of the game and understanding of each other as a team,’’ Ellis told Cosafa.com.
‘’However, the most important part was the execution of the game-plan, as well as the mental state to be able to handle pressure and push for 45 minutes and more.
“Do we panic or keep calm? I saw players build-up from the back and find solutions for themselves. It looked better but we can still do more fitness-wise.
"It is not where we want it to be for the tournament but it is better because they have an understanding as compared to when they first reported for camp.”
On her part, coach Dludlu hailed her girls' fighting performance in the disappointing defeat to their senior national side.
“We also had no injuries now; just muscle strains because the players have been out of action for a while,” she said.
After the friendly, both teams had since moved to Port Elizabeth to continue their build-up for their respective competitions on Wednesday.
Bantwana will open their U17 campaign in a five-team round-robin preliminary stage against Zambia on November 4 at The Oval.
For Banyana Banyana, they will launch proceedings against Angola on November 3 at the Wolfson Stadium in Nelson Mandela Bay.