Bulgaria coach Rosen Barchovski was delighted with his team’s narrow victory over New Zealand on Saturday as preparations continue for the forthcoming European Championship qualifiers.

New Zealand arrived in Bulgaria on Friday ahead of their Olympic campaign, and suffered a 77-74 loss to their hosts in front of 1500 fans in Yambol the following day.

Barchovski said: “I'm happy with the victory. I'm glad we beat the team that is fourth in the world.

“We are still in the early stages of our preparation and we have worked mostly on stamina.”

Substitute Filip Videnov top-scored for the Bulgarians with 24 points, while Boyko Mladenov contributed 11.

“We have still a lot of work to do,” Barchovski added.

“Filip Videnov put in a great performance. In the next friendly I will also count on the boys that I didn't see play on Saturday.”

The two teams meet in a second friendly match on Monday, again in Yambol.

Barchovski’s side face European Championship qualifiers against Portugal, Israel and Latvia in September.