South Africa's new footballing ritual: the annual Kaizer Chiefs post-Christmas slump. WHO IS TO BLAME?

Pardon me? Kingston Nkhatha mocks the boo boys

IN three short years, it has become one of South African football’s most curious rituals. Ever since Stuart Baxter arrived at Naturena, we sit scratching our heads around this time of the season asking: “What’s happened to the AmaKhozi since Christmas?”

Wolverhampton-born Baxter hasn’t done badly of course. Ever since that crushing MTN8 defeat – 4-1 at the hands of Johan Neeskens’ Mamelodi Sundowns in 2012 – he’s had Chiefs near the top of the PSL. He became the first foreign boss to win the title in his first season, finished runner-up last summer and remains 10 points clear of Bidvest Wits this term.

But the annual slump in fortunes appears to be unavoidable. The rumble of grumbles signals the end of summer almost as surely as the autumnal chill.

Baxter’s post-match interview after the 2-0 loss to SuperSport United on Tuesday night was remarkable, given the history. He opened with “Errrr… I really don’t know how we lost that game” and claimed his side had been strong in an awful first half for both teams.

He failed to explain why he started Matthew Rusike ahead of new signing David Zulu and once more we heard nothing of the fate of Katlego Mphela, the one-time “Killer” who has played so rarely since his expensive switch from Mamelodi Sundowns over a year ago.

There was no explanation for his return to the much-derided “Three Towers” system with Morgan Gould, Tower Mathoho and Tefu Mashamaite at the back in a 3-5-2 formation. We’ve seen it several times and it’s never worked.

He ended with: “It’s strange, I like this performance much more than our last two” referring to the 0-0 draw against Bloemfontein Celtic and the scrappy 2-1 win over Botswana’s Township Rollers in the African Champions League on Saturday.

It was after that game against the Gabarone outfit that Baxter admitted: “That’s the flattest I’ve seen us all season,” returning us to where we were this time last year: questioning where the Chiefs will-to-win had gone after Christmas.

With Bidvest Wits crushing Moroka Swallows 2-0 – I do hope somebody is watching the Birds goalkeeper Greg Etafia carefully – the gap is down to 10 points despite a Clever Boys performance neatly summed up by Gavin Hunt thus: “That wasn’t pretty was it? Sheez, I’d have asked for my money back if I was a supporter!”

Masked avenger: SSU goalkeeper Ronwen Williams

If Pitso Mosimane’s Mamelodi Sundowns win their two games in hand, the reigning champions can cut that lead to just SEVEN, threatening a repeat of the KaboYellow come-from-behind triumph of last season.

And still here we are, scratching our heads: for 20 games this season (and two at the end of last season, when it was too late to catch Masandawana) Kaizer Chiefs have avoided defeat despite a chronic lack of strike power.

Now, with Bernard Parker on a paltry three goals all season, Kingston Nkhatha having scored more goals than Chiefs in the League this year (one) and Matthew Rusike taking over the mantle of “Booing 747”, the apparently unavoidable slump is back.


Ronwen Williams, wearing a mask to protect the cheek he fractured before Christmas, was unbeatable as Jeremy Brockie - the New Zealand striker I warned Stuart about on twitter and via SMS - scored the first and Dove Wome added a late second, his sixth of the season.

We can talk about derailed trains and jittery juggernauts all we want but the question of WHY Kaizer Chiefs can’t sustain their form is a vital one.

Over-confidence must be a part of it when you get to the halfway point with a big lead every season. Having a star midfielder arrested for alleged assault won’t have helped. And the transfer window came and went with Zulu arriving from Chippa United complete with a medial knee ligament injury.

These are all contributory factors.

Warning: My Brockie tweet 12 hours before the game

But surely the greatest problem Kaizer Chiefs face is their fickle fans. They transmit their nerves to the arena and the players feel it. Nkhatha claimed after playing his first game against his old club: “The booing simply makes me dig deeper” but in truth the men in gold live their life in fear of being picked out by the 15-million strong AmaKhosi army.

Before the season had even restarted the social networks were awash with critiques of Baxter, Rusike, Yeye and the Khune/Khuzwayo conundrum during the Celtic clash. And at that point nobody looked likely to catch the train.

Those howls of disapproval rose to fever pitch before Polokwane on Tuesday night. And almost like a self-fulfilling prophesy, it came to pass (though Chiefs passing on the night was awful).

It’s time for the AmaKhosi to get behind a troubled train that is rapidly running out of steam. Time to support not detract. Before it’s too late.

Reconciliation day for KINGSTON NKHATHA and the Kaizer Chiefs boo boys: Baxter keeps the runaway train firmly on track

Kingston the first: Nkhatha and Parker celebrate the opening goal
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THERE are days in every footballer’s life when things go according to plan. They are not to be sniffed at in a career where Madam Fortune can mess you up in a moment.

Kaizer Chiefs striker Kingston Nkhatha had one of those days at the soggy Peter Mokabe Stadium this afternoon. With his faithful coach Stuart Baxter putting his career on the line to defend the 29-year-old Zimbabwean from booing “fans”, Nkhatha back-heeled his second goal of the season in the 35^th minute to ease the pressure all round.

And it was Nkhatha who produced the cross for Siya Nkosi’s second goal as the AmaKhosi went on to beat a lively Free State Stars 2-1 to equal the record of 17 games unbeaten set by arch-rivals Orlando Pirates. Chiefs are currently 16 points clear in a footballing world where only Bayern Munich, nine ahead in the Bundesliga, can hold a candle to Baxter’s men.

That’s why Nkhatha’s goal – amid a typically hard-working performance against a side playing well above their normal relegation-threatened level – was so important. Baxter had come out publicly (see my two previous posts) and said he would quit if the booing of his striker didn’t stop.

That was a significant step to take. A brave one, especially when you’re on top of the world. And Nkhatha repaid the debt in full. As he held the Man of the Match award tightly afterwards, the typically modest Kingston said: “This is a team award. We are always telling each other: keep pushing. That is what we do.”

Baxter, his jubilation marred only slightly by Tower Mathoho’s late own goal, said: “I work with Kingston, he knows I've got confidence in him. It was nice to see Nkatha going to his team-mates, they feel for him.

“That sort of camaraderie sees us through the storm. We can beat any team is this league but any team can beat us. If we don’t prepare properly for every game, we’ll be stepping on a landmine."

Baxter has been tip-toeing around landmines ever since he arrived back in South Africa 30 months ago. He started with an awful 4-1 defeat against Mamelodi Sundowns in the MTN8 and a storm over his CV. But he went on to become the first foreign coach to win the PSL in his first season, was 11 points clear last season before a cataclysmic collapse let Sundowns in to snatch the title.

This season, with Knowledge Musona walking away and Bernard Parker recovering from ankle surgery, he has had to rely on Nkhatha to lead the line. Incredibly, Chiefs won their first 8 League games…took R1.5 million for Q1 and the R8m MTN8 trophy. Miraculous stuff.

Take that: Nkhatha's back heel beats Verbauwhede

But even as he produced another footballing miracle, Baxter came under pressure for his continual selection of Nkhatha.

We don’t see the lads in training. We don’t see the tactics on the board. We don’t appreciate the genius involved in going 17 games unbeaten when your strikers have scored five goals between them.

But the boo boys let rip anyway, and Baxter decried his errant fans, particularly in Polokwane, as “idiots”. It wasn’t clever. Heat of the moment stuff. I told Stuart he should apologise on Sunday. Baxter refused. He took me back to his school days, remembering when his father Bill was over-looked for the Aston Villa job in England: “It’s all about respect, Neal” he said “This team deserves that respect. My players deserve respect. Kingston deserves respect. I will not accept the booing of my players when we are top of the league.”

And with that stance, Baxter went in to yesterday’s game at a venue he doesn’t enjoy. He stuck with Nkhatha. He was without his defensive midfield talisman Willard Katsande (who has just SMSed me to say he’ll be back at the weekend after a stomach muscle injury) and the suspended pair George Maluleka and Morgan Gould.

To win despite those changes, to have Nkhatha score, pick up his sixth assist of the season AND win Man of the Match, to triumph against a Free State Stars raising their game for Chiefs, was little short of a fairy tale. Amid torrential rainfall, they defied the conditions on the same pitch where in-form Polokwane City had crumbled against struggling AmaTuks and lost 5-1. Incredible.

By my calculations, including the two games they didn’t lose at the tail-end of last season, Kaizer Chiefs are now NINETEEN unbeaten in the PSL. If you include their four-match MTN8 triumph and a penalty-shoot out defeat in the second game of the Telkom KO (which counts, statistically, as a draw) plus the second African Champions League game against AS Vita last season, I make it 28 games unbeaten.

Can anybody, anywhere match this at the moment? Yet there was Baxter afterwards, cheerfully telling Carol Tshabalala: “We are not finishing off games that are there for the taking. We have to improve on that. There is work to be done.”


This morning a relieved Baxter said: "It seems what happened on Saturday helped. That small section (we had trouble with) tried to cheer Kingston tonight, whatever happened on the field.


"They supported him even when he missed. The atmosphere was brilliant and Kingston deservedly won the Man of the Match award."

Amazing. And there are people out there who say Baxter can go if he doesn’t like the boo-boys. Look back on this day, AmaKhosi fans. And realise just how good it is to support a side capable of invincibility. No side has ever gone through a PSL season unbeaten. The record is two defeats. Chiefs are more than halfway there. Five more wins out of 13 should do it.

My teams Arsenal and Amazulu can only dream of such heights. Forever Fearless. The train is on track. And Baxter is in the driving seat. He deserves a little more respect.

BOOGATE EXCLUSIVE: Baxter is SERIOUS about those Kaizer Chiefs quit threats: It's all about respect for South Africa's No1 coach

If you're a football journalist reading this, feel free to lift quotes... but please credit me.

Deadly serious: Baxter could quit over Nkhatha's treatment

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AS BOOGATE broke across the internet on Sunday after Stuart Baxter's astonishing post-match interview in Polokwane on Saturday night, the real question became clear: was the coach of unbeaten runaway leaders Kaizer Chiefs REALLY threatening to quit over the booing of non-scoring striker Kingston Nkhatha?

It certainly sounded that way (see previous post), and I wasn't comfortable going along that line without speaking to Stuart himself. I started off on the wrong foot with him nearly three years ago, questioning his CV and commitment.

I was badly wrong and said so, we enjoyed a very public apology and reconciliation (google it, it's on YouTube). Today, in a PSL where NINE of the 16 coaches have already shifted hot-seats this season (I broke the story of Ernst Middendorp's departure from Bloemfontein Celtic last night), Baxter is, by some margin, the longest surviving boss. He's finished first and second in two seasons and is now top of the PSL by 13 points, uneaten in 16 games, eager to set up an academy system at Naturena and has never been more successful.


We get on well. There is a common bond, two Englishmen loving the new South Africa, eager to put our football up where it belongs; developing talent, exposing dodgy practices and putting our cards on the table even when it hurts.


Baxter should be the most secure man in football management WORLD WIDE given his current record. No other league globally offers unbeaten leaders 13 points clear as we near the halfway point of the season. But a long chat on on Sunday afternoon did little to dispel the feeling that Baxter will NOT BACK DOWN over Nkhatha's treatement by "an idiotic minority" of the AmaKhosi - and other issues to do with respect at the club.

Baxter to the future: Stuart and me

I cannot reveal all that was said between us, Suffice to say the conversation came close to the chats I used to have with Roger de Sa when he was reaching cup final after cup final at Orlando Pirates and surviving serious African Champions League challenges.


But like Roger, Stuart is not comfortable with much that is going on around him. He should be, but he isn't. Too much "bullshit", too many "sinister forces" - though he insists team selection, if not player recruitment, remains ENTIRELY in his hands.


There are issues over how his squad is treated, over what his players are expected to do before vital games, about how his advice is treated by officials at Kaizer Chiefs.

Baxter has compiled expert documentation on pre-match preparation - just being on your feet and travelling on a bus can impact on performance - and a guide to how a young player should grow up from 13 if he wants to become a top professional in the gold-and-black. But he feels that guidance - and the academy he was hoping to restore to glory after age-cheating scandals four years ago - is going nowhere.

The word that crops up again and again is RESPECT. Respect is everything to the man from Wolverhampton, who grew up in a football family (he remembers vividly when his dad Bill was over-looked for the Aston Villa hot-seat, he walked away rather than taking a job for life at the club) and has plied his trade all over the world.

Any doubts about his willingness to quit over Nkhatha's treatment are quickly dispelled: “I stand by what I said. If people boo my players, if they won’t respect their own team, I will be forced to leave Kaizer Chiefs.”

Baxter, who used the word “idiots” to describe those booing Zimbabwean Nkhatha, 29, after the 1-0 win over Chippa United at Polokwane on Saturday, said: “It sounded like a threat to resign? It was meant to sound like that. Honestly Neal, use this as you want. I’m in a pretty strong position at the moment.

“We’ve tried everything. Appeals to the crowd, campaigns, posters. The team don’t look forward to playing in Polokwane. That’s what it is at the moment. I won't apologise for using the word idiots. It was said in the heat of the moment but it applies to those who boo their own player.

“If you don’t respect the players, you may lose the coach. Is that over the top? Probably. The sensible ones have to pull them in line, there were a few telling them to be quiet.

“There’s an element in there, Kingston plays well, can’t buy a goal. Why? He’s strong but he isn’t deaf. He’s s****ing himself everytime he’s in a scoring position. I’ve just watched Sunderland West Ham, 1-1, Jozi Altidor (USA international) has a chance the same as Kingston’s, falls over himself, misses.

“He cost them a packet with that miss on Saturday. Is there booing? Insulting behaviour? No. Supporter is the term. It contains the word SUPPORT. Not a slaughterer, a supporter. I can tell you without fear of contradiction: KINGSTON DOES NOT DESERVE TO BE BOOED. He’s a great lad, hard-working, a real team player."


Baxter agrees Nkatha's return of one goal this season is not acceptable. But he insists Kingston remains the best choice for his all-conquering Chiefs this season. He understands questioning of his selection processes, but refuses to accept "home" fans at the Peter Mokabe booing their own - and it's not just Nkhatha who suffers.

Baxter, choosing his words carefully, says: “Look, when I say idiots, it’s a minority. I could see many of the real supporters telling them to stop it. Most of the real AmaKhosi. What I can’t accept is these others, they just don’t get it. They don’t understand the damage they’re doing by targeting a player.

“It’s not just a boo when they make a mistake, it’s constant targeting of a player, it brings down confidence, affects the WHOLE TEAM. Even when they’re warming up in Polokwane, the substitutes are getting abuse.

“It’s my job to protect my players. I have to speak out. It’s my job. Some people love this, will use it to destabilise my side. But if they don’t  get it when I’ve won 16 games on the trot. In the African Champions League they will intimidate the opposition, not their own players. We will travel north facing plenty of booing from the opposition fans. That's how football SHOULD be.

“If people can’t respect what I say, then so be it. I have adapted to South Africa, just like I did in Scandinavia, the USA, Japan. My style of management here is very different to what it was in Sweden or Finland, Japan or England. I can put up with a lot. But if they carry on booing, that’s it. I will go.”


With a double-header to come in Polokwane - soon to be known as Booburg - tomorrow, Baxter will be listening. His table-toppers play Free State Stars at 6pm after the Reconciliation Day opener between the real home team, Polokwane City and AmaTuks at 3pm.


If the boo-boys go for Nkhatha again, Baxter will not back down. At the very least, he will demand an end to "home" games in Polokwane. At worst, he could even walk away. The idiots have been warned. If you are REALLY an AmaKhosi fan, back Nkhatha. Back your runaway PSL leaders. Or risk losing everything.

I'VE GOT TO MAKE A DECISION: unbeaten Stuart Baxter on the boo boys at Kaizer Chiefs

ONE GOAL: Kaizer Chiefs striker Kingston "Boo" Nkhatha
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STUART BAXTER’S post-match interview was chilling. Much more than a simple rant. Nobody else appears to have picked up the full impact of his frustration with the Kaizer Chiefs boo boys in Polokwane. Here it is, word for word:

“I’ll be very honest, I’m tired of it. I’m tired of it. I’ve got to make a decision. Do I want to continue working at a club where you don’t know if your best players are going to be depressed because of some idiots in the crowd?

“I’ve got to make a decision. And maybe that decision is: I DON’T WANT TO DO IT."

Yes, a threat to quit, moments after Saturday’s 1-0 win over Chippa United at the Peter Mokabe Stadium a venue where, he admits: “I don’t like coming.”

And this from a man who had just recorded his 16th League game undefeated. Shocking … but not unprecedented.

In March, when Chiefs looked like they were going to walk away with a second successive title, Baxter said much the same after his non-scoring striker Kingston Nkhatha was – once again - booed in Polokwane.

I spoke to him after that initial outburst. Go google my name and his to find the details, the video, the frustration. And we’re right back there. A coach who should be cockahoop after the strongest possible start to the season finds himself bewildered by his club’s ungrateful fans, or “idiots” in his words.

The AmaKhosi have a point of course. Fans always do. On Saturday, Nkhatha had at least two excellent chances to add to the solitary goal he’s managed all season. They all went straight to the keeper. Bernard Parker, the PSL’s Golden Boot with just 10 last season, scored the winner, bringing his tally to a meagre three.

Kaizer Chiefs have gone surging further ahead than ANY other club in world football right now with the minimum of goals and the minimum of fuss. Their crusade has been based around goals from midfield (George Lebese and Reneilwe Letsholonyane have both scored 5, Mandla Masango has 4) with the occasional vital contribution from their centre-backs at set-pieces.

A serious boos problem: Nkhatha and Baxter

It’s not the most attractive style. But, by George, it works. In effect, Baxter has been verging on the controversial Spain formation with the “false No 9”. At Euro 2012, Vicente del Bosque discarded Fernando Torres for Cesc Fabregas and confounded the opposing centre-halves looking to mark the out-and-out scorer.

In truth, Nkhatha is the spearhead, but often he is tracking back, making the early challenge from the long ball, while Parker – who hadn’t scored AT ALL until his brace against Bidvest Wits a fortnight ago – lurks in peripheral areas, only recently breaking in to the box with the late run.

All of which leaves the two Georges – Lebese and Maluleka – with Masango, Siphiwe Tshabalala and Yeye to score from wide or deep and extend the apparently endless unbeaten run.

Chelsea, whose own run in the English Premier League ended against Newcastle a week ago, wouldn’t dare to try such a system without Diego Costa. Real Madrid, with 20 wins on the trot, rely on Cristiano Ronaldo to break records. Bayern Munich have Mario Götze. Barcelona have Luis Suarez when Lionel Messi and Neymar Junior don’t weigh in.

But Kaizer Chiefs have Nkhatha. A 29-year-old Zimbabwean warhorse who has NEVER been prolific in a career going back to his 41 games and just FIVE goals for Free State Stars between 2007 and 2011.

Chiefs haven’t scored a lot. 24 in 16 unbeaten games is a remarkably miserly tally for our runaway PSL leaders. It would barely get them in the top five in Spain, England or Germany. But add their MTN8 triumph and the Telkom KO “draw” (they were eliminated on penalties by Platinum Stars) and they haven’t lost in 22 games this season.

That form is unquestionable. Indisputable. You can understand why Baxter gets so frustrated. Having won the PSL in his opening season – a first for a foreign coach in South Africa – they finished second last season after a remarkable collapse with the injured Parker losing his scoring boots.

This season, with the African Champions League campaign looming, Baxter has had to make do without star goalkeeper Itumeleng Khune – back on the bench for the first time since early September on Saturday – and expensive striker Katlego “Killer” Mphela. And he has surpassed all expectations.

But still the AmaKhosi boo. Especially in that far northern outpost Polokwane, a home from home for the Chiefs.

Baxter told me: "Fans who boo their own players when we are top of the League? Who boos a player who works as hard as Nkatha? Deplorable. I don't understand it.

"My assistant Doctor Khumalo feels we should bring legends to educate the fans, but I don't see why. We go to Polokwane to show them our team, we don't go to get our players booed by our fans."

Chiefs play modest Free State Stars on Tuesday night in a bid to move their record beyond WWWWWWWWDDWDWWDW to a phenomenal SEVENTEEN unbeaten. Orlando Pirates’ unbeaten run reads DW. Think about it. Do the AmaKhosi REALLY have to boo their non-scoring striker?

Just look at Eric Tinkler’s Buccaneers. They were goalless against former boss Roger de Sa’s weakened Ajax Cape Town for 55 minutes.

Then Lennox Bacela asked to come off, and the bench panicked. For three long minutes Pirates played with ten men. And then the unthinkable happened: Kermit Erasmus came on to join Lehlohonolo Majoro. The dynamic duo I told Vladimir Vermecovic to use for months had finally come together.

Just last week, Tinkler was telling us they were “too similar to play together” but more by luck than judgement Majoro produced the first – an own goal – bouncing it in off post and the back of Finnish goalkeeper Ansi Jaakkola. Seconds later Major made it 2-0. Erasmus forced the corner converted by Siya Sangweni and then added a remarkably calm fourth himself.

In half-an-hour, Tinkler had gone from caretaker villain to pantomime hero, thanks to a tactical change which was forced upon him. Two hours after Baxter’s rant, he was telling us how crucial Erasmus’s goal was after those misses against Sundowns last week.

Not the best from a coach under pressure. Kermit’s talent was never in question, surely? Tinkler’s selection process, like VV’s is what should be under scrutiny.

Best in the world? Kaizer Chiefs after 16 games

Still, Tinkler did better than Pitso Mosimane after his reigning champions had been held 1-1 at lowly Amatuks. Sullen and sulky, he gave the post-match interview from hell.

Watching Roger de Sa after he’d been hammered by his old mate Tinkler and Sammy Troughton trying to explain his feelings on PSL referees it strikes you: our PSL coaches are dragged before the microphone too quickly. Not even an ad break and the post-match interrogation is upon them. In Europe they have a period to consider, calm down.

Perhaps that’s why Baxter, Tinkler, De Sa and Mosimane are the talking points of a fascinating weekend. My view? Coaches opinions are paramount. But that doesn’t mean the fans can’t express themselves. They pay for that privilege.

You can read my Neal and Pray column in www.thenewage.co.za every Tuesday. And follow me on www.twitter.com/nealcol... coming on January 5? A new football show with Mark Fish. Watch this space.

Hail of fame: Baxter's AmaKhosi ready to ride the storm

Hail the Chiefs: fans face charges for ice dancing

ABANDONED. It’s not the most cheerful word in the English language. It brings to mind tiny lifeboats lost in a stormy sea, babies left in hospital doorways.

And it’s not the happiest word in football either – especially if you’re a Kaizer Chiefs fan waiting for Wednesday night’s replay of their abandoned PSL clash with Leopards at Soccer City (kick-off 7.30pm, live on SuperSport4).

Oh, how the AmaKhosi will suffer if they don’t claim all three points. There they were, cruising at 2-0 after 34 minutes on Saturday night, when the early-summer Highveld storm hit Johannesburg. One minute Chiefs were stroking the ball around a green sward, the next hail had turned the pitch in to a winter wonderland.

The ice had barely melted by the time Stuart Baxter came out on the club’s official website insisting: “We will show the same winning intent.”

But there was no question of play continuing on Saturday when the clouds broke. Daniel Bennett, the nation’s top referee, led the charge to the sanctuary of the dressing rooms, declaring the surface unfit and potentially dangerous.

As unruly fans drew an unnecessary PSL disciplinary charge for larking about in the ice, match commissioner Stan Swart was a crest-fallen man. He said: “We tried clearing the lines but that didn’t work. Then we tried to get the pitch remarked but it was too wet. We had no choice but to ask the teams to replay the game.”

And of course, under SAFA law 8.14 – a rule followed in most FIFA nations – that means the match will be the full 90 minutes, started again at 0-0. Had they managed to get back on the pitch and finish the game on Saturday, they would have restarted from 2-0 up in the 35th minute. Bemused Kaizer Chiefs fans are furious.

A cunning Leopards sangoma may be cackling away hysterically somewhere up north, but in Soweto everybody wants to know what happens to the two marvellous goals scored by Bernard Parker and Kingston Nkhatha before the hail came down.

The sad truth is that Parker’s magnificent free-kick has now been scrubbed from the records. And ‘Cijimpi’ Nkhatha’s  second, neatly constructed, will not feature either.

Though television producers are free to screen Parker’s strike as a contender for Goal of the Month, it won’t count if Parker – who scored four against Amazulu in the opening game of the season and two for Bafana against Mozambique a week ago – is in the running for PSL top scorer.

So Chiefs have to do it all again on Wednesday, knowing the Orlando Pirates – under controversial new coach Roger De Sa – had seen off Platinum Stars 1-0 thanks to a disputed Andile Jali penalty and an early red card.

That puts Pirates level with Chiefs on seven points, one short of promoted shock-troops AmaTuks, Maritzburg United and Free State Stars. Moroka Swallows, after their shock loss against Pretoria’s Clever Boys on Friday night – are on six points with SuperSport United and Bloemfontein Celtic.

Hard as it is to find a positive side to this awful word abandoned, there is one consolation for deflated Chiefs fans. Eric “Tower” Mathoho may be available for the replay.

He was ruled out of Saturday night’s clash following the death of his uncle, David Galananzhele Mathoho, who passed away last Wednesday after a long illness. Mathoho was given permission by the club to attend the funeral.

Siphiwe Tshabalalala, rested after his Bafana duties against Brazil and Mozambique, could also be ready by Wednesday night.

A frustrated Baxter said on www.Kaizerchiefs.com: “It is difficult when a game is postponed and rescheduled - it changes our entire program - but as professionals we will have to prepare now for Wednesday. Leopards were always going to be tougher and they will not be different come Wednesday as for us we need to go out and finish the business.

“We would have loved to continue playing after the storm but then it was difficult to do so as the hail could not be removed without removing the lines.

“The players are obviously disappointed that the game was postponed but it was due to natural cause. I am confident that they will show the same intent on the pitch.”

As for Tshabalala and Mathoho, Baxter said: “We will make a decision this week but I was pleased with what I saw in the 30 minutes or so that we played and we will have to build on that.”

But anything less than victory on Wednesday will leave the Amakhosi with understandable feelings of injustice.