Baxter for Parker

KAIZER Chiefs coach Stuart Baxter is refusing to be complacent amidst his team’s recent resurgence.

Chiefs inflicted a 2-1 Premiership defeat on Supersport United at Lucas “Masterpieces” Moripe Stadium on Sunday, extending their unbeaten run to four matches, including successive wins in their last two games.

Despite Sunday’s victory, the Englishman still described his team’s first-half performance as being “disjointed”.

“The first half was tough for me. We were disjointed. We misunderstood the game plan. We had a chat at half-time and I think the second half was much better tactically,” the Amakhosi coach said.

“We looked a lot more dangerous when we were playing with a low block. I thought the players gave a good performance in the second half.”

The result was the first defeat of the season for Supersport, leaving reigning champions Mamelodi Sundowns as the only remaining unbeaten side in the Premiership.

Meanwhile, Baxter was full of praise for veteran Bernard Parker, who rolled back the years on Sunday, scoring a brace.

“I told the players that they are privileged to have a senior professional like Parker, who puts in the shift he put in tonight,” said Baxter.

“He got the goals that won us the three points and is an absolute glowing example of the sort of players that we want to produce in South Africa.”

Randburg-born Parker has been on the books of Amakhosi for 10 years and attracted some scathing criticism recently from supporters who feel that it is time for the Soweto giants to sell him.

But Baxter is adamant that the 73-time capped former Bafana Bafana player still has a lot to offer his team.

“He’s hard-working, humble, a good team player. For that reason alone, Parker is worth a place in Kaizer Chiefs,” said Baxter.

While Parker was having a good game, things went pearshaped for him as he picked up a hamstring injury in the second half and had to be replaced by teammate Kearyn Baccus.

He was not the only Chiefs player who had to be substituted due to injury as the same happened to Khama Billiat.

“We don’t know how bad Bernard’s injury is. It’s a bit of a hamstring. Khama’s shouldn’t be too bad because we took him off as a precaution to get some fresh legs on,” Baxter said.