Baxter concedes title could be gone after Chiefs lose to Arrows

Kaizer Chiefs coach Stuart Baxter had been preaching to his team about chasing Mamelodi Sundowns down to the wire even though it looked almost impossible. 

But that was until Golden Arrows happened. Abafana Bes’thende muddied the waters for Amakhosi, beating them 1-0 in a DStv Premiership match at FNB Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

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The defeat means Amakhosi remain 16 points behind runaway leaders Mamelodi Sundowns. They however still have four games in hand on Masandawana. 

And while Baxter didn’t say it out loud that his team is out of the race, his tone has changed and it was easy to see that he knows it is now an almost insurmountable mountain. 

An Arbitrator ruled in Chiefs favour, giving them back the two games they could not play in December on Friday, a day before they played Arrows. This, Baxter says, should have served as inspiration. 

“I am just glad that we get to play those games. The logistics of the match, we will sort those as we go along. I think that should have been a bit of a motivation for the players,”  said Baxter after the match. 

“It’s the conclusion that we wanted. We want to play the games so they can be decided on the field. We wanted the ability to play for those points…

“Maybe it has some sort of effect, it’s difficult to know, isn’t it? I mean, you like to think that the group – the players that you work with – can adapt to different situations. 

“And to find that we are getting the games to play, we are getting a fair crack of the whip there, that (should) reflect in their desire to want to take the three points tonight.” 

He admitted however that the calculations speculating on how far Chiefs can go if they get to play the two games and win them may have laid too heavy on his players. 

“Yes there was speculation, and it was that with those two games there is a potential for six points, and with the game against Sundowns there is a potential of a further three points to take there. 

“But a sensible person knows that that is a possibility, not a probability. We had to do our job tonight, and win the game to keep the pressure on Sundowns. Now I think that pressure is minimal, it is now negligible. 

“And they kick on and they can relax in their games. We wanted the opposite of that, we wanted them to go into their games with a lot of hype, with a lot of worry that if they slip up someone will be there to take advantage of it. 

“Now that’s not the case. You don’t know how that affected the game tonight but I would like to think we are strong enough to get through that.”