VICTORIOUS Ghana coach Milovan Rajevac diplomatically heaped praise on both his side and his fellow Serbians following last night’s World Cup clash in Pretoria, which saw the African nation claim a late win.

Asamoah Gyan’s 84th-minute penalty decided a close-fought match at Loftus Versfeld stadium after Zdravko Kuzmanovic had handled a cross in the area.

There was little to separate the two sides during the encounter, although Ghana were given a boost in the 74th minute when Serbia lost Aleksandar Lukovic to a red card.

Somewhat surprisingly, Serbia actually looked the more likely goalscorers for a period after that dismissal, but it was Ghana who would take the spoils thanks to man-of-the-match Gyan.

Ghana’s Serbian coach Rajevac said after the game: “I congratulate Serbia, they played very well, and of course I congratulate my team. They played well until the end.

“Serbia are a very good team, with very good individual players. They played a wise game today, perhaps we got more lucky than them because we got one goal and we obtained three points today.

“I hope Serbia can pick up six points from their next two games.”

Rajevac, who was up against his friend and compatriot Radomir Antic on the Serbia bench, added: “This was a very difficult game, difficult to coach.

“There were two different styles of playing, we had to be focused throughout the game, so it was a very difficult game from a technical point of view. We had to maintain our level of concentration to win such a game.”

The victory puts Ghana in a strong position to make it through to the knockout stages in what is only their second appearance at the World Cup finals.

Ghana could secure their spot in the last 16 with a victory against Australia on Saturday.