KAIZER Chiefs coach Stuart Baxter has described his side’s shocking 4-1 loss to PSL rookies Royal AM as an “embarrassment” and has apologised to the club’s supporters.
The British mentor was left humiliated after his side were handed somewhat of a footballing lesson by the hastily-assembled KwaZulu-Natal outfit. Thwihli Thwahla, as AM are affectionately known, are predominantly made up of Bloemfontein Celtic players - the club bought by KZN businesswoman Shawn Mkhize.
MaMKhize, as she is known, kept the technical team led by head coach John Maduka when she moved Phunya Sele Sele to Pietermaritzburg ahead of the new season.
And their biggest statement this season has come at the expense of Baxter’ Glamour Boys, who were made to look anything but. Victor Letsoalo was the chief destroyer for AM as he bagged a brace to lead his team to their second successive win in the league, inflicting Chiefs’ second defeat already.
“It was quite embarrassing and we have to apologise to our supporters especially for the manner in which the game finished,” said a visibly disappointed Baxter after the match. And the former Bafana Bafana mentor did not hold back as he went on to slam his team’s poor performance in the day, which left a lot to be desired.
“A good night quickly turned into a cruel night for us,” added Baxter.
“The decision making, the nervousness and the lack of quality coupled with the naivety of our players made things very difficult for us.
“At the moment, we are making such poor decisions in moments of the game that cost us the entire match. These moments of the game are destroying the complete performance.
“This games has put a different spin to our start to the season. It makes everything look doom and gloom but with a win it could have been completely different.”
But Baxter is still optimistic that his side can still salvage their season as they have plenty of time to turn things around for the better.Their next chance to turn the corner will come when they face Marumo Gallants at Peter Mokaba Stadium on Sunday (5pm).
“When you’re in a situation that we are in, trying to put together different strategies, operations and structures within the team, then a defeat like that (4-1) is absolutely not the desired result,” he said.
“But we chased the game and made poor decisions and poor mistakes. We had to do that.”