South Africa skipper Dean Furman has expressed frustration after their draw with continental champions Nigeria in the last Africa Cup of Nations qualifier on Wednesday.

"We're very disappointed with not winning the game away in Nigeria. You know they are African champs and they have terrific players," Furman told Kickoff on Wednesday.

Despite the Super Eagles' 2-2 stoppage time equalizer at Akwa Ibom Stadium in Uyo, Bafana Bafana lead Group A with 12 points to book their place at the finals, leaving Nigeria licking their wounds in third place with eight points, two behind Congo who crushed Sudan.

"But it shows how much we've come along, and how hard we've worked that we come off the pitch very disappointed," the 26-year-old midfielder added.

The player for English side Doncaster Rovers also hailed coach Ephraim 'Shakes' Mashaba.

"He's been excellent for us; he's instilled the pride that you saw out here today. Fighting for the shirt, wanting to win every ball, score every goal.

"It's a very focused group and that's all down to the coach."

"We've got a lot of work to do now [ahead of Equatorial Guinea games], but we've got time to iron out our mistakes and hopefully have a very strong team going into the tournament," Furman added.

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