‘They threw the kitchen sink at us’ – Baxter

Kaizer Chiefs might have won the Soweto derby against Orlando Pirates, but Chiefs coach Stuart Baxter knows that it wasn’t an easy victory at the Orlando stadium on Saturday.

Amakhosi had a bright start into the match, putting pressure on their opponents and they were rewarded with a goal just before 20 minutes of play, but Bucs equalised in the middle of the second half, only for Amakhosi to steal the victory in the last minutes of the game.

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In his match perspective, Baxter reveals that the tie was tactically planned, but feels that his side wasn’t consistent in their play.

“After we scored, Pirates threw the kitchen sink at us. They managed to get a goal back and bombarded us. It was a terrible mistake by us. They managed to get behind us, they picked up second-balls and worked flick-ons. We scored the second goal, we thought it’s all over but it was not,” said Baxter.

The Buccaneers came hard at Chiefs in the last moments of the game, which could have seen them get a point from the fixture, something Baxter acknowledges.

“We did not manage those last 10 minutes properly and Pirates were working their socks off (in search of an equaliser). It became a battle to preserve what we got.  In a game like that, we could have ended up giving away victory. But, delighted to have won the derby, however, we will have to be better than that. I thought it was a tough derby. We did well in the first half when we were well organised.

In the losing side, Bucs co-coach Mandla Ncikazi believes his charges deserved more from what they got from the match and the fact they lost the game doesn’t mean Chiefs were better than them on the day.

“Highly disappointing, the most disappointing part is that Chiefs scored two goals, but we should have scored more. I don’t think they even created many chances. Not the best game from  us, but again, it’s not that the opponents were better than us. It is just that they scored two goals,” said Ncikazi.

‘We created better chances, but we did not take them, which is why we lost the match. Not that the opponents outscored us, it was just a matter of us not taking our chances.”

Ncikazi will want his players to forget about the derby result and focus on their next assignment, a Nedbank Cup clash with Marumo Gallants for a spot in the quarter-finals of the competition at the Peter Mokaba Stadium on Saturday. Meanwhile, Amakhosi have a week to prepare for their next league game against Golden Arrows at FNB stadium on Saturday.