Dar es Salaam — TAIFA Stars Coach Jan Poulsen believes his side have much more hard work ahead, in spite of a promising start to their African Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifying campaign.

Stars surprised their hosts Algeria after pulling out a 1-1 draw in their opening match of group D at the Mustapha Tchaker Stadium in Blida on Friday.

"We still have to keep our feet on the ground and realize this is just one match, there is still a lot of hard work ahead of us," Poulsen said shortly after landing at the Mwalimu Julius Nyerere International Airport in Dar es Salaam on Sunday.

"It is always good to get a point in Algeria, and I think we have something to build on. We will just keep working exactly as we've been doing, and we'll see how that takes us in the qualifiers," he added.

Poulsen however commended his players' resolute performance that won them a valuable away point against the North African soccer giants.

He said, "It was a tough match. I think the players worked very hard to get a good result.

I'm very pleased with the attitude and commitment of the players. I can see Algeria as the favourite in our group, and a draw was good result."

Taifa Stars sturdy midfielder Abdi Kassim opened the scoring for his team with a thunderous free kick but Adlene Guedioura equalized for the Fennecs with an absolute cannon-ball from forty yards out that found the top right corner.

Algeria tried everything to get the winner in the closing stages but a superb display from goalkeeper Shaaban Kado ensured Taifa Stars get off their 2012 AFCON qualifying campaign to a dream start.

Poulsen however conceded that his team needed a bit of lucky to get the crucial away point.

"We're under pressure but Kado played a very good match in the goal and everybody worked very hard."

Poulsen also revealed that he was not pleased with Togolese referee Djobi Kokou who officiated the match.

He said, "The referee was not exactly on our side but the players just kept their cool, and that was again a very good performance from the players." Taifa Stars striker, Danny Mrwanda joined his coach to criticize Togolese referee Kokou for the way he handled the match.

"I think we could have won the match if the referee had been fair enough." Mrwanda who plies his business in Vietnam said the match was tough but he was pleased to get a point away against a side just fresh from the 2010 World Cup finals in South Africa.

"Algeria are always a strong team and it is always going to be very tough against them, but we showed again that we can play against any team, we played well as a group and we got the draw. We're satisfied."