Cape Town - Bafana Bafana head coach Stuart Baxter on Monday said his side's 1-0 defeat to the Ivory Coast was a learning curve for his players but lamented a lack of goal threat.

A Jonathan Kodija strike in the 64th minute handed Bafana Bafana a narrow defeat in their opening Group D fixture of AFCON 2019.

Baxter's men registered only two shots at goal with none troubling the Ivory Coast goalkeeper despite having 56% possession compared to their opponent's nine attempts at goal.

"I thought we started the first 15 minutes quite slow in our decision making," Baxter said. "We allowed Ivory Coast to come into a better rhythm and I think we were quite poor in transition from defence to attack.

"But we did well the rest of the half and I thought it was quite an even game.

"I think the heat affected both teams but the longer the game went on we looked better but then the goal comes when we have a corner but then we didn't defend well in transition and decide to press the ball.

"After the goal, I think we had the better of the ball but we didn't transmit that into any goal threat with no strikes at goal especially after creating some dangerous situations.

"If you don't create enough of an attacking threat against a good side like Ivory Coast, you're going to have problems," Baxter said.

Bafana Bafana next face Namibia on Friday in their second fixture of Group D at the Al-Salam Stadium.

Kick-off is at 22:00.