Kaizer Chiefs head coach Stuart Baxter admits Eric Mathoho’s error that lead to a goal was a major blow and gave insight into his defensive change.
Amakhosi suffered a 1-0 defeat against Abafana Bes’thende on Saturday evening through a third-minute goal from Knox Mutizwa.
The result leaves Chiefs third on the log, one point behind second-placed Royal AM and 16 points behind league leader Mamelodi Sundowns.
Baxter lamented their poor start to the game in which Mathoho’s poor backpass was intercepted by Mutizwa before netting a spectacular opening strike that proved the only goal of the game.
“It was not the start we were looking for, to give away a goal so early in the game was only going to give fuel to the opposition and only [give] us a higher hill to climb,” he said.
“But after that, we had about 80 minutes to play and if we’d kept our cool, we’d have played properly and have plenty of time to get back, but we didn’t and I think I can fast forward very quickly in the first half we didn’t play with enough quality.
“Whenever we showed the quality we were able to go forward but when we lost the ball and had bad first touches and inaccurate passes, it was us just defining on transition and our attacks lacked the quality we needed.”
The Amakhosi boss went on to explain why he made a defensive change, despite trailing the game at the break and needing to go for all three points.
“So I changed to a back three, pushed the wing-backs very very high, to press with an aggressive back-line which I thought was better for us in the second half,” he continued.
“But as we chased we had to make other changes for offensive players, Khama got a bad knock and we had to change him, unfortunate because he was doing well.
“Then we chased the game and without the quality and movement in the final third, if you don’t have the ball, control of secure possession, you can’t time any movements and that’s what was happening.
“Having said that, we could’ve got goals on a couple of set-plays but it wasn’t to be, so now we lick our wounds and prepare for the next one.”
Chiefs will face Chippa United next in the DStv Premiership on 2 March in Qqeberha, where they will look to get back to winning ways.
