Baxter praises Chiefs for important win ahead of Soweto derby

It is clear that Kaizer Chiefs coach Stuart Baxter would have forgiven his players had they not fought as hard as they did to get the win at Baroka FC on Saturday night.

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Amakhosi beat Bakgaga 1-0 at Peter Mokaba Stadium in Polokwane to earn an important three points in their quest to climb up the DStv Premiership log table. 

The win saw Chiefs leapfrog Soweto rivals Orlando Pirates into second place with 32 points off 18 games. They are however still an incredible 16 points short of leaders Mamelodi Sundowns. 

The reason that Baxter would have been understanding had the result in Limpopo not gone their way is because he knew they had the upcoming Soweto derby at the back of their minds. 

“These guys deserve a massive pat on the back… That’s for two reasons; one, because they kept going and kept believing that we could (still win) despite that we had 16 strikes on goal with eight on target but we didn’t get our noses in front,” said Baxter after the game. 

“But also because we have Pirates up next and traditionally you want to see if they can take their eye off the ball in the game before that one. 

“We kept our discipline well. We take the positives, which I think were plenty, back to Joburg. We take the three points and look forward to the derby.” 

The win came courtesy of Khama Billiat’s last minute strike which made up for the many scoring chances he and Keagan Dolly had spurned in the game. Baxter said he had to play his substitutions right to avoid backlash from Baroka. 

“I waited because Baroka’s main threat was when they were hoofing balls into our penalty area and they did that with some quality and some aggression. So, I really needed the three centre-backs, the three big lads to win the headers. 

“But we just decided that we are playing so well that we were going for it. We put in more attack minded players. We took off a centre back and brought on Bibo (Sabelo Radebe) and Lebza (Lebogang Manyama) who would push forward and rotate the ball. 

“They had an impact. They probed and at the finish we got the ball in and Khama was there as he had been all night without success. But this time he stuck it to the back of the net,” explained Baxter.