Cape Town - Stuart Baxter kept his unbeaten Soweto Derby record intact when he guided Kaizer Chiefs to a 2-1 win over traditional rivals Orlando Pirates at the Orlando Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
In both his stints as Chiefs coach, Baxter has not lost a Soweto Derby and on Saturday it was a close call, although if VAR (video assistant referee) had been available, the win might have been more conclusive. Television replays show match officials should not have disallowed Keagan Dolly's first-half goal. Equally, replays also show that there was a hint of offside when Ghanian striker Kwame Peprah opened Orlando Pirates' scoring account with the equalizer.
In the end, Chiefs held out for a thrilling after a late onslaught by Pirates. Baxter felt the team lost composure which could have cost the team dearly.
"We did not manage those last 10 minutes properly and Pirates were working their socks off (in search of an equaliser)," said Baxter.
"In a game like that, we could have ended up giving away victory. We will have to be better than that.
"I thought it was a tough derby. We did well in the first half when we were well organised.
"I thought we had good control of the game.
"After we scored then Pirates threw the kitchen sink at us. They managed to get a goal back and bombarded us. It was a terrible mistake by us.
Full Time’| #OP 1 : 2 #KC
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"They managed to get behind us (our defence), they picked up second-balls and worked flick-ons.
"We scored the second goal, we thought it's all over. but it was not."
In the Pirates camp, Pirates co-coach Mandla Ncikazi felt his side's inability to capitalise on scoring chances cost his side dearly. He felt his team created more scoring opportunities than the victorious Chiefs.
"It is highly disappointing, especially if you expected that the team would be tired. As you saw, they were not tired, and it was just a matter of not taking the (scoring) chances," said Ncikazi.
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