Baxter’s Brigade responds in grand style
SUPERSPORT United coach Stuart Baxter said his side had to find a way to respond to Bidvest Wits’ goal avalanche against Ajax Cape Town to ensure they remained at the top of the Premier Soccer League table.
Baxter’s side put five past a game Lamontville Golden Arrows at Lucas Moripe Stadium in Atterideville on Wednesday night‚ in a thrilling second half.
The end result of 5-2 summed up the helter-skelter nature of SuperSport’s first game of the year.
It followed Wits’ 5-0 thrashing of Ajax the previous night‚ with the Clever Boys briefly grabbing the PSL lead from SuperSport for 24 hours.
Baxter was not surprised by the second half, after a tepid first half, with four goals scored in the first 21 minutes from the break.
“We had to have an answer and we didn’t quite have one in the first half,” the coach said.
“Showing character means you’re not down-and-out just because you played a poor 45 minutes.
“We spoke about having to respond because Wits have had some good results and we needed to.
“We were playing a very good team – Arrows are one of the better teams. They can beat anybody on their day.
“What’s happened to the PSL? It’s like there are explosions everywhere but the first half was very mediocre.
“We compressed the game a lot more in the second half because we knew they were going to get more transitions.
“Apart from the two goals we conceded‚ I thought we were very good in the second half but we did switch off a bit. I’ll take 5-2 any day of the week.”
Like their current title rivals Wits‚ SuperSport have a Caf club tie that involves a trip across the Indian Ocean this weekend.
Theirs is an easier one to Madagascar to face ASSM Elgeco Plus in a Confederations Cup tie tomorrow.
Wits travel to Reunion to meet SS St Louisienne.
What has also largely gone unnoticed is that SuperSport have not lost a league game in 14 clashes – a run similar to the 19 Baxter had with Chiefs in the 2014-15 season, where a barnstorming start all but set up the title‚ allowing for a late-season stutter.
Baxter is not thinking too far ahead of himself‚ nor is he thinking about the vacant Bafana job he’s been linked to.
“The Bafana thing is a rumour that I don’t even reflect on and I’ve told the players I’m happy with the job that I’m doing where I am‚” he said.
“Everybody else can talk but it’s no more than rumours and when all these rumours fly around‚ someone has to ask whether anyone who is coaching wants to leave their job at the moment?
“I’m happy here know I’m happy.
“I’m quite used to taking it one game at a time but we lost the [Telkom Knockout] cup final [against Cape Town City in December].
“I would have been delighted to win that one but it’s a good quality not wanting to lose.
“We’re just about halfway through the season and that means very little.
“No one remembers the team that was leading at halfway when the season is done . . . especially when you don’t win.” — TMG and the players