RUSTENBURG // After two games, Ghana sit atop Group D, but were it not for their wastefulness in attack, they would have had one foot in the last 16. Milovan Rajevac, the Ghana coach, admitted his team have "problems" after watching an impotent strike force fail to score from open play for the second successive game, despite dominating in the final third against 10-man Australia. "We deserved to win, but unfortunately we didn't do it," said the Serb, whose side now have four points, one more than both Germany and Serbia. "We had a player more than them and we tried to score a second goal, but couldn't manage. We had many opportunities and my team did its best, but we did not score the goal we needed. "We have a problem. We have scored twice in two games through penalties, but we have had a lot of chances. Now we will try to redeem ourselves in the next match [against Germany]. The goals are not that important though at this stage, what is important is the result. If the score against Germany is 0-0, I will be more than happy." The encounter yesterday was not 0-0 for long as Australia took an early lead through Brett Holman. Richard Kingson, the Ghana goalkeeper who plays in England for Wigan, spilled a simple Marco Bresciano free-kick and Holman, the AZ Alkmaar striker, pounced to obliterate any memories of the Socceroos' 4-0 humiliation by Germany six days earlier. Rajevac, for the record, blamed the controversial Jabulani ball. Ghana, however, rallied and in the 25th minute they were gifted a reward. Andre Ayew looked to have ruined a good opportunity on the Australian byline through his tendency to over-elaborate things, but, having lost the ball, his tenacity saw him regain it and squeeze through two defenders before cutting it back for Jonathan Mensah, whose shot goalwards struck Harry Kewell on the arm. Roberto Rosetti, the Italian referee, instantly pointed to the spot, dismissing both Kewell and the vehement Aussie protests. Asamoah Gyan netted the spot-kick, his second in as many games. "It was a mistake from the referee," said Pim Verbeek, Australia's Dutch coach. "I saw the replay on TV and there is no way he could have seen what was happening. "It was never a red card; his arm was by his side. Where is it meant to be; are we meant to cut it off?" Verbeek added, though, that he did not blame the referee. "I make mistakes, my players make mistakes, the referee makes mistakes, but I have no problems at all with the referee." Ghana, buoyed by the send-off, began pressing further up the park and the traffic soon became one way. But the Black Stars, who ended the first half with nine shots at goal - compared to Australia's two - could not capitalise. While their domination continued after the break, the Africans looked susceptible to a fast Australian counter-attack and the best chance of the second half arguably fell to Joshua Kennedy, the Socceroos substitute. A poor clearance in the Ghana defence allowed the Nagoya Grampus Eight forward a free shot at goal, but his tame effort was plucked out of the air by Kingson. "My players reacted very well," Verbeek said. "We all know the Australian spirit and they showed that. "We have a great fighting spirit and played some very good football. "This gives us a lot of confidence for the final match with Serbia." Ghana, however, now have a much tougher task at hand and will need to improve in attack if they are to get a result against the Germans and prolong their African World Cup dream. <b>Man of the match</b> Kevin-Prince Boateng (Ghana)