Stuart Baxter says Kaizer Chiefs “could be a problem for a few teams” this season, after seeing his charges score a morale-boosting Carling Black Label Cup 4-3 penalty shootout victory against rivals Orlando Pirates.
The returning Chiefs mentor was excited about the club’s new additions, saying “none of the new players disappointed me”.
After a vintage performance in goal from Itumeleng Khune, new goalkeeper Brandon Petersen’s penalty shootout heroics – which saw him deny Ntsikelelo Nyauza and Wayde Jooste – gave Chiefs the spoils and their fourth Carling Black Label Cup victory.
And the victory was secured after a confident final spot kick by another new signing Kgaogelo Sekgota, who caught the imagination of Amakhosi fans with an energetic, skilful second half cameo appearance.
“Brandon was magnificent. For the supporters we’ve got to win it. It’s the old enemy, so we always want to win, but this game was about information for me moving forward. None of the new players disappointed me. Some of the players that we know can play, they staked a claim. I was happy with the evening’s work. There are green shoots coming through to be hopeful that we can make a nice guide out of this,” said Baxter.
Sekgota certainly caught Baxter’s eye, with a game-changing performance on the night.
“We got balls to KG (Kgaogelo) in the right areas and he certainly affected the game. The boys have made good progress. It’s another shutout and the intentions of the attacking play we saw tonight. We’ll have a practice game this week, another week’s training, then we have Sundowns. We’ll look to get everybody fit, try and keep these boys fit, stay humble and work hard and we could be a problem for a few teams this season,” the Chiefs coach said.
Man of the match on the night, Njabulo Blom, said after the game that the Amakhosi were good value for the win after following the coach’s instructions well.
“As a team we had a game plan and I feel we executed the game plan well as players and did what the coach wanted, on and off the ball. So that’s why we were able to win the game today,” said Blom.
The exciting Chiefs midfielder said it was “a great feeling” to have so many players from Chiefs’ development ranks on the pitch last night, among them the likes of Sabelo Radebe, Lebohang Lesako and Happy Mashiane.
“It shows we’ve been working very hard in the club’s development structures and I’m very happy for the players who came from the club’s development to be part of this team. I think we are working very hard at training and we’re hoping to give the fans positive results going forward,” said Blom.
It was a night Consumer Coach, Morena Mofokeng, will not forget in a hurry, as he had the honour of leading the Amakhosi to Carling Cup victory alongside Baxter on the bench last night.
“The young boys, Sabelo and Lesako, handled the game well. They gave the guys a hectic game and Kgaogelo also gave them a game. The players’ mindset was very positive, I liked the energy. Definitely this season, our opponents will be looking out for us,” said the upbeat Mofokeng as he summed up the positivity in the Chiefs camp after a satisfying derby victory.
