THE Mighty Warriors put one foot in the last qualifying round of the African Women Championships but their technical team still wants more from the team if they are serious about upsetting the continent's powerhouse Nigeria in the first round.

Zimbabwe secured the crucial away win when they beat the female Zebras of Botswana 1-0 at the University of Botswana in the preliminary round, first leg clash here on Saturday.

The team is now looking at finishing off the Tswana side in the return leg at Rufaro on January 29 but Cyclone Queens gaffer and Mighty Warriors assistant coach Yohannes Chikaola said their focus, since the draw was conducted, has always been on first round opponents Nigeria.

"This Botswana page is closed though we have to correct a lot of areas we observed in this match. Yes, there is need not to underrate them when they come to Zimbabwe for the return leg because they are unpredictable but everyone is confident that we will win.

"We can say we are home and dry with our away victory in Gaborone. Botswana are an unpredictable side and last year in the qualifiers they stunned South Africa at home.

"But as we go back home, we are going to work on areas which nearly made life tough for us especially in the first half.

"We talked to the girls after the match and they said they don't even know what happened with their performance.

"But it happens in football that a player can be off form one day and in the other match she gives a five-star performance.

"The players could have probably underrated their opponents but we had warned them before. We lost shape of the team, especially in defence and they were going in each other's way.

"We were exposed on the left and missed Nokuthula (Ndlovu) while in the midfield Emma (Msipa) struggled but she had a good game against South Africa in the same position and it was just not her day.

"But we are now looking forward to the next match. We want to qualify for the Afcon finals and have to win against Nigeria.

"It is a tough task but to be champions you have to compete against the best," said Chikaola.

After winding up the preliminary round in two weeks time, the Mighty Warriors have enough time to prepare for the last round as the match against the defending champions Nigeria will be staged at the end of May in the capital before they travel to the West African country for the reverse fixture.

Zimbabwe would be taking comfort in the fact that every time they have participated in the Championships qualifiers they have qualified for the biannual tournament.

The Mighty Warriors last participated in the Championships in 2004 in Johannesburg.

They had their first continental dance in 2000 again in South Africa and finished a credible fourth.

This current crop of the Mighty Warriors, which have been getting some good support unlike the previous generations, have since won the Cosafa Championships and underwent an intensive training programme in Germany last year.

They have got enough exposure in international matches, playing against Olympics-bound South Africa while they also featured in the Arab Invitational Cup last November managing to beat Tunisia 1-0 and settling for a 2-2 draw with the hosts Egypt.

Their low point remain the dismissal performance at last year's All-Africa Games in Maputo, Mozambique, where they bowed at the first stage with expectations high for them to deliver in a group where they were playing against a South Africa development side, Tanzania and Ghana.

The Mighty Warriors coach Rosemary Mugadza believes qualifying for the Championships scheduled for November in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, would complete their revival story.

The Mighty Warriors are expected to arrive home today at midday.

Meanwhile, Mohammed Fathi's Pharaohs also started the road to Malabo on a bright note when they beat visiting Ethiopia 4-2 in Cairo, Egypt.

However, they face a stubborn Ethiopian side which scored two crucial away goals in Addis Ababa in two weeks.

Zambia also started well, thrashing Malawi 7-0 in Lusaka and virtually qualifying for the next round where South Africa are waiting.

Namibia went down 2-0 to East African giants Tanzania.