TENDAI Ndoro came off the bench, scored Zimbabwe's second goal to make it 4-2 but that was not enough against Tunisia as the Warriors bowed out of the 2017 AFCON finals here in Gabon,

Ndoro believes their group B opponents Tunisia took advantage of the bad start to the game and after that, it was difficult to come back into the game.

"We tried our best. But look, when they had scored three, it was always difficult to come back into the game.

"We didn't give up. We kept on pushing and attacking. We couldn't just defend but they took advantage of that," he said.

The Orlando Pirates striker had replaced Danny Phiri after the breather.

In the 10th minute Sliti Naim's effort beat goalie Tatenda Mukuruva for the Tunisians opener.

And 12 minutes later Youssef Mskani got their second and they could have added a third but Wahbi Khazri's effort from a rebound was ruled offside.

Taha Khenisi added third in the 36th before Musona, who was coming frominjury, gave the Warriors hope by making it 3-1.

Taha went down inside the box from a Costa Nhamoinesu challenge and Tunisia were awarded a penalty.Khazri converted.

In the 57th minute Ndoro justified his introduction.

"The most important thing is that we put up a fight and tried hard to come back into the game. But this is part of the game and we believe we can recover again as a nation.

"The Tunisians showed they were prepared for the game, they had planned against us and they managed to win the game. We are out but we should never lose hope in the future,"said Ndoro.