Banyana Banyana of South Africa. Photo: safa.net)

South Africa were made to dig deep before securing a late 1-0 win over a resilient Botswana side, which gave them the lead in Group A of this year's COSAFA Women's Championship.

 The defending champions South Africa wasted goalscoring opportunities, including a penalty, having dominated the proceedings of the game from the kick off whistle.

The South Africans had the opposing goalkeeper Maitumelo Bosija who was the busiest keeper on the day, to contend with, having made fine saves to deny the hosts on different occasions.

Bosija was, however, beaten in the final minutes of the enthralling match, when Jermaine Seoposenwe nodded home the winner from a deep cross by her teammate.

Malawi defeated Madagascar 2-0 to boost their chances of making it to the semifinals and thus ending the Malagasy team campaign at the COSAFA finals.

Linda Kasenda and Zainab Kapanda provided Malawi's goals after they were soaked up in pressure by Madagascar who lacked the killer instinct.

Zimbabwe got the better of Swaziland with a 3-0 victory, as they took control of Group C with six points from two encounters after winning their opener.

Susan Nyama, Felistas Muzongondi and Marjory Nyaumwe were on target for the Mighty Warriors whose defeat knocked Swaziland out of the competition.

Action continues on Saturday when high-scoring Cameroon tackles Zambia in the clash of the day, as the two teams looks to top Group B.

Elsewhere, Lesotho entertain Mozambique as both sides seek to qualify for the semifinals, while Uganda are up against Namibia.

Full results:

 FT: South Africa 1-0 Botswana
FT: Malawi 2-0 Madagascar
FT: Zimbabwe 3-0 Swaziland

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