Kwesi Appiah always anticipated a difficult match against Malawi but the Black Stars coach says he was pleased with Ghana’s 2-0 victory on Saturday.

The Black Stars secured victory at the Accra Sports Stadium as goals from Christian Atsu and Anthony Annan completed a good start to the first leg of the final round qualifying for the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations.

Appiah, who before kick-off had stated that final round qualifying matches were never easy in international football explains that Ghana's quality made the difference against very disciplined Flames side.

“Malawi is not an ordinary team that we can walk over, tactically they were very disciplined,” Appiah said at his post-match press conference.

“And when that happens then you don’t rush the ball, you change position and try to create spaces for strikers to score.

“We tried to do that but it was difficult because like I said they are a good team.

“They had some bit of possession and they could have even scored.

“We needed to change our tactics and the second half we saw a big difference and I believe we can do better in Malawi.”

For Appiah, getting a good result in the first leg will spur the Black Stars on in the return game as the aggregate winner advances to the finals of next year's Nations Cup in South Africa.

The return leg will be played on the weekend of October 12-14.