Johannesburg – Kaizer Chiefs coach Stuart Baxter says his team has managed to grind out victories from unfancied positions, making the Soweto giants a difficult team to beat in the league.
Mandla Masango scored his third league goal of the season and his fifth in eight appearances, before Kingston Nkhatha netted his first of the season to guide Amakhosi to a 2-0 win over SuperSport United at FNB Stadium on Saturday evening.
The win maintained Chiefs’ unbeaten run in the league, extending their 100 percent winning record to five and in doing so, making their best start to a league season since 1996.
A dull first half made way for a much-improved second from Baxter’s outfit, as Masango and Nkhatha found the back of the net when a goalless stalemate looked on the cards for much of the tie.
“You’ve got to be able to attack a team when they park the bus, you have to be able to attack a team when they just attack you,” Baxter said afterwards.
“That’s the name of the game and if you’re not good at both of them, then people feel you’ve got an Achilles heel.”
Despite a clinical second half performance, Baxter admitted his frustrations walking into the change-room at half-time.
“I thought we had a string of very nice attacks in the middle of a very poor first half,” he said.
“Everything was a class better in the second half but we have to have that for 90 minutes unfortunately because there are too many teams that can beat you otherwise.”
Club soccer now makes way for a two-week break for international duty, which sees Bafana Bafana involved in back-to-back Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers against Sudan and Nigeria on September 5 and 10.
Chiefs head into the recess with a four point lead over their nearest rivals Ajax Cape Town.
Surprisingly, Baxter has welcomed the break in action despite his team looking in devastating form and with momentum firmly in their favour.
“I think it’ll be a decent one for us because we’ve used the same starters more-or-less all the time. They’ll get a good rest,” he said.
Baxter explained the need for the injured pair of Bernard Parker – who made his first appearance since ankle surgery in June – and Siphiwe Tshabalala to nurse themselves back to full fitness during the break.
“Bernard came in and gave us a lovely little cameo tonight, Shabba’s got to get himself back in the frame and I think soon we’ll have a full squad to pick from.” – Sapa