DR Congo coach Otis Ngoma says his team had a much improved performance against Cote D'Ivoire despite drawing the game at the TotalEnergies African Nations Championship (CHAN).

The Leopards played out to a goalless draw in the Group B match at the 19 May 1956 Stadium in Annaba on Wednesday.

Ngoma believes his team displayed an improved performance even though they are still affected by their poor pre-CHAN preparations.

"We made changes today and there was net progress in the performance from the last game against Uganda," said Ngoma.

"We only played two warm up matches. We have players who are still getting to know each other.

"The center-backs for example played together for the first time this evening. We hope to get our rhythm in the next game."

Despite the progress the gaffer identified some weaknesses in the team that must be fixed before their next match against Senegal.

"We have a problem of ball retention, if we resolve this, the team will surely tick better.

"We added two center forwards in the final ten minutes because we were hoping to take advantage of the crosses. Unfortunately that didn't happen."

Two-time winners DR Congo have recorded two points from their two matches so far at the tournament being staged in Algeria

They will challenge Senegal in their last group game on Sunday at the 19 May 1956 Stadium at1900 GMT.