Cape Town - Bafana Bafana captain Thulani Hlatshwayo said Wednesday his side failed to play to their strengths in a dramatic 2-1 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) quarter-final defeat to Nigeria.

Bafana Bafana heartbreakingly conceded in the 89th minute to a Troost-Ekong effort from a corner after a goalkeeping error by Ronwen Williams that handed Nigeria a place in the tournament semi-finals.

Hlatshwayo later admitted in a post-match interview that his side had not played to their strengths in the first-half which was something the players themselves sought to rectify.

"First-half we didn't play according to our strengths," Hlatshwayo said. "We didn't play the way we started against Egypt and we looked flat.

"We rectified it in the second half as the coach spoke about it and we spoke about it as players because a good team is sometimes a team that coaches itself.

"We came back strong but unfortunately conceded soft goals and the kind that we work hard in training to avoid. We always work on set-pieces too.

"Obviously it's difficult to exit the competition in this way, having conceded in the last minute especially after we improved after the break but we needed to play long balls at the end because we were chasing the win."