Durban - Kaizer Chiefs got the much-needed bragging rights after defeating fierce-rivals Orlando Pirates 2-1 in the Soweto derby at the FNB Stadium on Saturday.
While Keagan Dolly was the star of the show for the Amakhosi due to his brace, Chiefs coach Stuart Baxter must also be credited for his role in the win.
The following are some of the things that helped Chiefs to win the game.
Keagan Dolly
Let’s face it, Dolly has so far proven to be the best signing of the off-season. He has already scored five league goals for Chiefs since returning to South Africa from France ahead of this season. Dolly’s confidence in front of goal was key to the Amakhosi netting their first and scoring the penalty to win the game in second-half stoppage time.
Dolly is red-hot at the moment. If he carries on at his current pace, he will definitely be a contender to win the Lesley Manyathela Golden Boot award at the end of the season.
Clever tactics
Pirates co-coach Fadlu Davids highlighted after the game that “the dominant team lost”. Davids made this comment as his side dominated possession.
After Chiefs conceded the equalizer in the 87th minute via Linda Mntambo, many coaches would have conceded that it would have been difficult to win the game and resorted to negative tactics to preserve a draw. After all, a point is better than nothing, right?
Instead, Baxter maintained his side’s balanced tactics and it paid off as they won a penalty in second half stoppage time which was slotted home by Dolly.
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Baxter also opted to take the unusual decision of only making his first change of the game late in the second half citing the bad weather conditions. This was another decision that paid off. Making substitutions in terrible weather conditions are more complicated as it takes the players coming on longer to adapt to the flow of the game. Had Baxter made changes earlier, it could have impacted the structure of his team.
Confidence
As a unit, Pirates are lacking confidence. Despite having 65% ball possession and 14 shots on target, only three were on target. By contrast, four out of Chiefs 11 shots were on target.
Had Pirates had more confidence, they would have easily won this game.
Meanwhile, Chiefs are now fairly high in confidence and have won three out of their last four league games.
@EshlinV