Kaizer Chiefs coach Stuart Baxter was not happy with how long it took for his side to get going in their 0-0 draw with Marumo Gallants.
Chiefs only clicked into gear in about the final 20 minutes with Erick Mathoho bringing a fine reaction save out of Gallants goalkeeper Washington Arubi and Daniel Cardoso heading wide from a corner after finding himself unmarked in the box.
Before then, Gallants were the team on top and indeed had the only real attempts on goal up until that point. And Baxter once again bemoaned his side’s sluggish start, which sees them having collected just five points from their opening five games.
“I think it was a very difficult game for either team to make any headway. I think as I said before the game I think set-plays were going to be a way of winning the game. I wasn’t happy with our intensity in the first half and with our possession,” the Amakhosi mentor told SuperSport TV.
“Halftime we changed it. Brought Bernard on, Lebogang was a bit short in the tank. Bernard gave us a little bit extra, arrived in the box a little bit more, secured the ball around their box. I think we played better. As you say they had those clear-cut chances. It was a difficult one.
“I think at times we did perform better. The first 20 minutes against Royal there was nothing wrong. We gave away a silly goal and go on the backfoot and chase the game and lose the plot.
“Tonight second half I think we made a bit more progress. We were a bit more solid at the back apart from a couple of set plays where Daniel’s helped us out like their keeper helped them out.
“I think we’ve played more like the way we can play if we’re going to start winning games the longer the game went on. Our possession got sharper, our backline was higher and braver. We got balls into their box, we were threatening whereas for long periods against Royal we weren’t threatening.
“But we still want to win games. We don’t want to play 0-0.”
