Slovakia Women's coach Daniel Jendrichovsky is still extremely confident his side can qualify for EuroBasket 2007, despite Saturday's 71-63 defeat in Latvia.

Slovakia currently lie in second place in Group E, with no chance of automatic qualification, but with an outside chance of going to Italy as one of the four best second-place teams.

But Jendrichovsky knows that his team needs to step up a gear after this weekend's loss.

"It was a bad game for us, and I'm very disappointed that we lost in the end," he told PA Sport.

"We played well, especially in front of 4,000 fans, it was a great advert for women's basketball.

"We effectively lost the game in the last two minutes, and it's a shame that we didn't play better towards the end.

"Our defense was good, and overall we can be very satisfied with our first half performance.

"But in the second half we started to make more mistakes."

Slovakia now face a crucial clash against Belgium in Kosice on Saturday, knowing that only victory will keep their dreams alive.

And Jendrichovsky is looking for an improved performance from his side after they lost 77-58 to their rivals earlier on in the qualification campaign.

Asked if he was out for revenge, the national coach said: "For sure, we have got a lot stronger since we lost to them.

"We will play to win and we will play till the end. 

"We go out to win every game we play, especially at home, where we are stronger."

Despite focusing strongly on Saturday's big clash, Jendrichovsky will have one eye on Wednesday's other Group E match, Latvia vs Belgium, which can have a big effect on his team's fortunes.

"I'll definitely be watching that game," he said.

"It's a very important match for all three teams in the group.

"Both teams will play for a win, but from a personal point of view we want Latvia to beat Belgium so that we have a better chance of progressing."