“I am happy with the way the players are developing,” insists Kaizer Chiefs coach Stuart Baxter, despite Tuesday evening’s 2-0 loss away against SuperSport United. “I thought we played well. The players showed good attitude.”

“We missed the services of two of our senior players who had to be withdrawn before the game,” Baxter laments the late withdrawals of Tsepo Masilela (got injured during the warming-up) and Reneilwe Letsholonyane (his father passed away on Monday night). “But what I can’t believe is how SuperSport scored their first goal. The ball travelled a long distance before it was headed in between our tall defenders and a tall goalkeeper, in the 16 area.”

Baxter, however, doesn’t want to reflect too long on what went wrong. Instead, he prefers to look forward: “The players are down, but I assured them that they played well. To win a championship is a battle. Winning a league is not how you start or how you do in middle of the season, it is how you pick up at the end.”

The loss means that the chasing pack of Bidvest Wits and Mamelodi Sundowns has narrowed the gap to ten points since the restart of the Absa Premiership last week. Baxter, however, remains positive: “Football is about competition, you can lead by ten points, and sometimes you can lead by a single point and win it at the wire. We will prepare for the next match.”

“We will continue to rotate the players to accommodate the fixtures and to be able to recuperate the other players,” says Baxter ahead of this weekend’s Nedbank Cup Last 32 match against Edu Sports.

Chiefs remain top with 47 points after 20 games played. Amakhosi will be welcoming Edu Sports at FNB Stadium on Saturday afternoon (kick-off is at 15:00).

Tickets can be purchased at Computicket and Shoprite Checkers at R40 for adults and R10 for children under the age of 12.