ABSA PREMIERSHIP


2013/14 Season


Moroka Swallows v Kaizer Chiefs


Dobsonville Stadium


Friday 31 January 2014


20h00 kick-off

Coach Stuart Baxter has expressed the readiness of his Team ahead of their trip to Dobsonville where hosts Moroka Swallows will be waiting to defend their territory. Chiefs will be looking at continuing with their recent form of the seven successive league wins in the league.

The Amakhosi have been rewriting the Club record books, as they now have matched the 1998/99 season record of successive wins in a season.

Coach Baxter sounded confident ahead of the game. Speaking to kaizerchiefs.com on Thursday afternoon, the Chiefs Mentor had the following to say,

“It is a Derby and always when the two teams meet, the expectations are high in terms of the game producing fireworks. The game will be very tightly contested. The league is heating up with the games coming thick and fast but we will take it one game at the time. It is all about the preparation and recuperation. We will have to play very well to win this one but I think the lads are ready,” said Baxter.

Baxter had selected the win against Swallows last season as one of the turning points in the process of clinching the league title. Chiefs beat Swallows 1 – 3 at the Dobsonville Stadium after coming from a goal down. Baxter poured cold water on the possibility of the memories of that night coming to play on Friday night,

“It is different this time around. It is early to determine the turning points in the league marathon. Of course the pundits would like to have opinions, theories and draw scenarios from the past experiences. To us we could point to the AmaZulu or Sundowns games for example as key moments in our quest for glory. We take every game as key and every point counts to win the league,” continued Baxter.

Chiefs’ games against Sundowns, Swallows and SuperSport are never easy games. Baxter shared some thoughts about their approach to the three games,

“We looked at a possibility of collecting 5 - 6 points out of these 3 games. With that we knew we would have consolidated our position in the league. We have won one against Sundowns, away from home already. We are at the stage where we have a bit of freedom to have a full go at our next two opponents in order to gain full points. These are big games against good teams. We will have to rotate our squad, 11 players will not be able to carry the load of playing in all three of these games,” commented Baxter.

The talk of the festive hangover dominated the preview of their game against Sundowns and Baxter described the situation as returning to normal with all the players getting back to shape,

“Before Sundowns, we were in a mini-preseason setup. The lads needed some game time in order to regain their rhythm and sharpness. The National Team players were not ready hence we rested them against Sundowns. We had another practice match after the Sundowns game and I think everybody is now ready for selection. It is only Matthew Rusike that is ruled out due to a damaged hand,” said Baxter.

On the overall Team readiness of his charges, Coach Baxter was very positive,

“With the games coming as they are coming, we are maintaining our focus. We are sticking to a formula of preparation, playing and recuperation. We don’t have the luxury to be overly excited when we have won and similarly we do not have time to be depressed when we have lost a game,” commented the Chiefs Mentor with confidence.

Chiefs have had the better of Swallows in the past, winning 32 and losing only 11 of the previous meetings between the two Soweto outfits. Baxter expressed full respect for his opponents ahead of the much anticipated clash,

“Swallows are a good Team, make no mistake. They defend well and will always have a couple of their players fishing around in empty spaces. We have to be careful but that’s not our style of football to retreat, we will keep on going forward and giving them problems. I think we have planned and devised a good strategy to beat them,” concluded Baxter.

Chiefs and Swallows have played to an entertaining 1-all draw in the first round of this current PSL season. Chiefs are placed first on the Absa Premiership log with 33 points from 15 matches. The Dube Birds are placed sixth with 22 points from the 14 matches.

Tickets are available at Computicket and Shoprite/Checkers nationwide at a cost of R40.