Stellies’ loss will not affect Chiefs in the Soweto derby, says Baxter

Stuart Baxter says derbies by nature have their own heartbeat and form and other factors do not really affect such games. He said this after his side were felled by Stellenbosch in a DStv Premiership match at FNB Stadium on Tuesday afternoon. 

READ ALSO: Stellies deflate Chiefs and claim full points

The Cape side sucker punched Amakhosi, beating them 1-0 to end a winning streak they had just started recently. 

The defeat came at the wrong time if you consider that Amakhosi have a tough one against long-standing rivals Orlando Pirates on Saturday. 

“This result doesn’t affect the derby at all,” insisted Baxter. “Whether you win, lose or draw, the derby has its own life, that’s my experience with derbies. 

“We have a couple of days to recoup and refresh and put together a plan for Pirates because you certainly don’t put one eye on Pirates and one on Stellenbosch. That would be suicidal. We gave this game all our attention, and we will now give all our attention to Pirates,” said the British mentor. 

On the Stellies match, Baxter said his team just could not hit the right notes and allowed their visitors to dictate the game. 

“The first 15 minutes were okay, it was the high tempo we wanted. We pinned them back. 

“But in their first attack they broke our press and they got a runner in and even though it was not dangerous it was a warning shot. 

“I don’t know if that made us apprehensive but we became static and they took over and they controlled the game quite well. 

“The goal came in the middle of that put us on the back foot… it was a great goal, well struck. We then had to chase the game.

“Tactically we needed to improve a few things at half time. 

“Our decision making when we were in good situations was not good enough and even though we played more quickly in our combination play we were not as committed as I would like us to be.”