Black Satellites head coach Maxwell Konadu has praised his players for their resilience after Ghana fought back to earn a 1-1 draw against Burkina Faso despite playing most of the match with 10 men.

The Black Satellites entered Thursday’s Group B clash looking to recover from their 4-2 defeat to Nigeria in their opening game on Monday but were forced to settle for a point after a spirited display.

Ghana’s task became more difficult early in the match when defender Kofi Junior Kumah was sent off, leaving the team to play with a numerical disadvantage for most of the encounter.

Despite the setback, Joseph Badu equalised in the first half to earn Ghana a valuable point.

Speaking after the game, Konadu commended his players for their determination and insisted they deserved all three points.

“It was a very difficult match. We had a red card in the early minutes, which distracted us because we had to make changes and move players into unfamiliar positions. But despite that, the game was keenly contested, and I think we did our best. We played better and should have carried the day,” he said.

The former Asante Kotoko coach explained that the dismissal forced his technical team to abandon their original tactical approach.

“We needed to change the system, and that’s exactly what we did. We switched from a 4-3-3 to a 3-5-1, and that created a lot of scoring opportunities for us,” he said.

Konadu believes Ghana were the better side after drawing level but failed to make their dominance count.

“Our strikers did everything possible and the midfielders worked extremely hard, but the second goal just wouldn’t come. We equalised when we were on top of the game, and that was the moment we should have killed the match. Unfortunately, we were unlucky,” he added.

The Black Satellites will now turn their attention to their final Group B match against Togo on Sunday, where victory could boost their hopes of progressing to the next stage of the competition.