Harare — DESPITE needing a helping hand from Mauritius at Rufaro yesterday, Warriors coach Sunday Chidzambwa maintains that his charges deserved their place in the Cosafa Senior Challenge Cup quarter-finals.

The Warriors had to anxiously await the outcome of the final Group A preliminary round clash between Lesotho and Mauritius yesterday to know their fate.

But the Crocodiles, who turned on a brave and disciplined show against the Warriors when coming from behind to hold Chidzambwa's men to a 2-2 draw, failed to find the same inspiration yesterday.

Lesotho only managed a 1-0 victory against the Indian Ocean islanders who, just like in their first game, finished the contest with 10 men following the expulsion of substitute O'brian Louis in the second period.

But for long periods in yesterday's match the Crocodiles appeared clueless against an enthusiastic Mauritius, who took the game to their opponents and deflated their chances of getting a victory.

Lesotho have always struggled to beat Mauritius with the Indian Ocean islanders having the edge in the head to head clashes between the two sides.

Yesterday the Crocodiles needed to score at least four goals to be absolutely sure of qualification and only got the breakthrough late on in the 89th minute.

It was too little too late to save Lesotho from bowing out on an inferior goal difference despite the Crocodiles having finished with the same number of points as the Warriors -- four.

Although naturally relieved with the outcome of yesterday's match, which saved the Warriors the blushes of an early exit in the tournament they are hosting, Chidzambwa insisted that his side was worthy of their place in the last eight.

"I think when one looks at the way the youngsters played in the two games we had in the group, you can see that they deserved to qualify," Chidzambwa said.

The veteran coach, whose teams normally build their campaign around punishing defences, was not amused with the manner his rearguard had applied themselves in the 2-2 draw against the Crocodiles.

"I was not happy with some aspects of the way we defended against Lesotho and we have to correct that. The two goals they got from the two penalties they were awarded came from the long ball behind the defence and we have to rectify that.

"We should not be found wanting from those long balls and we also need to utilise the chances that we create," Chidzambwa said.

Zimbabwe now await the identity of their quarter-final opponents with surprise packages Comoros, Botswana and Swaziland still in with a chance of winning Group B whose matches will be concluded in Bulawayo today.

Comoros lead the group courtesy of a superior goal difference over Botswana, with both on four points while top seeds Swaziland are third with three points and pointless Seychelles anchor the standings.

Chidzambwa said his team would have to be ready to meet any of the three leading contenders in Group B, arguing that "there are no more small teams in football.

"Like I have always said, there are no longer any small teams in world football. We used to hit Lesotho for six but now we are struggling to beat them.

"Look at Comoros, they used to struggle to win Cosafa games but at the moment they are leading Group B so I cannot talk about any preferences in terms of the opponents for the quarter-finals we will just have to be ready for anyone.

"I was also not happy with some of the questionable decisions by the referee (Israel Ramocha of Botswana), especially on the penalties that he denied us and those he was quick to give but, just like the players, referees are also human and they also do make mistakes," Chidzambwa said.

The Warriors mentor also revealed that his team who, have been mainly using Rufaro as their training base would now shift to natural grass as they prepare for Monday's quarter-final showdown against the eventual Group B winners at Barbourfields.

"Until we leave for Bulawayo we will have to change our base from Rufaro which is a harder surface and get the guys to work out on natural grass again.

"I would also prefer that we do much of our preparations from Harare and leave for Bulawayo on Sunday," Chidzambwa said.

Warriors' manager Sharrif Mussa, who watched yesterday's match at Rufaro, was also a relieved man at having to progress at the expense of Lesotho when Malawian referee Robert Ngosi blew to end the match.

The Warriors manager, however, reckoned that the Crocodiles had struggled because of an element of fatigue.

"You could tell that the effects of playing two games inside two days took its toll on the Lesotho players. We were also affected in some way when played them on Monday.

"But we are happy to progress and we should now learn from our mistakes and hopefully get better. If we do our job properly we should progress to the semi-finals.

"The coaches have been emphasising on the need to take our chances and the good thing is that we are creating so many scoring opportunities," Mussa said.

Mussa also spoke about injured striker Nyasha Mushekwi who is expected to resume some light training today.

"Nyasha's knee is still swollen but the good thing is that the results of the MRI scan showed that he had not suffered any serious damages to his ligaments." Mussa said.