Banyana team manager Fran Hilton-Smith has arranged a number of friendly games for the national women’s team against the junior teams of a number of PSL clubs. The team, coached by former Bafana Bafana star Augustine Makalakalane, step up their preparations for the upcoming CAF Africa Women's Nations Cup in Nigeria which begins later this month.

Speaking to kaizerchiefs.com after Thursday afternoon's game, Hilton-Smith is confident that playing against junior boys teams will help Banyana cope with the physical challenges they will come up against in the Nigeria later this month.

“Taking into account the fact that we will be playing against Nigeria in one of our group games, it is imperative for us to get practise playing against physically stronger opposition. I do believe that by us playing in these games against the junior teams of PSL Clubs, we are on the right track towards being able to deal with the physical threat posed by the host nation.”

Amakhosi junior coach, Ntsie Maphike, commenting on the game said “We are always open to help and assist the national teams at anytime. By playing against teams that could match the competition they will be up against in Nigeria, I am sure that Banyana will be able to give a good account for themselves in the tournament. I think that we really helped their preparations as there were stages in the game where they really dominated us. Particularly in the first half when we found it hard to break them down. In the second half we did get more into the game and made our dominance tell in our favour.”

They will leave for Nigeria on the 24th of October and will kick off their quest for a second place finish in Nigeria, which will secure their passage to the 2007 FIFA Women’s World Cup in China on the 27th October. They are in the same group with the hosts Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea and Algeria.