Pretoria - A rare smile tells the story of Stuart Baxter's joy as his side finish the year with a bang, sitting on top of the Absa Premiership standings. SuperSport United are at the summit of the country's elite league table with a better goal difference compared to Bidvest Wits and Cape Town City. All three teams are on 25 points.
SuperSport beat Polokwane City 2-1 in their final league encounter for the year at the Lucas Moripe Stadium on Wednesday. What pleased Baxter most was that his side were able to do it in 14 league games, as they still have to finish off their first round fixtures when the league resumes in February.
“I’m very happy,” Baxter said. “This means we were good in the first round. It’s a sort of receipt you put in your pocket and say thank you very much (after you’ve made a purchase). But in reality, it’s nothing (they should brag about). I sat down with the players (after the match) and made them aware that though we finished the year on top of the log, it was nothing we should get too excited about.
“The biggest compliment I can give to my players is that they were able to perform and get the results that got us here, though we had a long list of injuries to deal with.”
Baxter added that he hopes his injured players would recover during the break, as he would need a full squad to compete in both, the CAF Confederation Cup, which kicks off in February, as well as the domestic front.
“It’s difficult to be successful, both domestically, and in CAF competitions,” the 63-year-old former Bafana Bafana coach admitted.
“Sundowns have shown that it’s not impossible but it’s not as easy as it seems. You would need to have a big squad and resources to see your side do well on both fronts.
“My hope is to get all our players ready for selection during this festive break. Once we have players like Kingston (Nkhatha), Jeremy Brockie and Bradley Grobler, among others, in full fitness, it is only then that I can start rotating the squad and resting a few.”
Meanwhile, Baxter said he would love to be reunited with his former player Mandla Masango, who is currently training with Matsatsantsa a Pitori to keep fit before returning to Europe in the new year. “Mandla is training with us to keep fit,” Baxter said. “It would be stupid not to ask if he wouldn’t be interested in joining us this season. But we are not about to spend R5-million (for his signature). If there was any hope of us getting his services, then we would go out there and compete.”