Stuart Baxter hailed SuperSport United’s dominant performance against Orlando Pirates, following their 4-1 victory in the Nedbank Cup final on Saturday.

Matsatsantsa cruised to their fifth Nedbank Cup trophy after Bradley Grobler, Jeremy Brockie and Kingston Nkhatha all got on the scoresheet, despite Brockie missing a penalty in the match.

Baxter believes his side deserved to walk away as champions after SuperSport’s dominant performance, which saw them outmuscle the Buccaneers.

‘The lads gave a fantastic performance. The first half was what we expected it to be, it was a bit cut-and-thrust. But once we got ourselves in front we were comfortable with the game plan,’ Baxter told SuperSport TV.

‘Dare I say, it could have run away to five or six [goals], and then we give up a penalty at the finish. I will try not to let that spoil my evening.

‘We knew the way what games are when you play Pirates, there are individual skills that you have to negate, but what makes them strong also makes them weak at times.

‘We needed to utilise that better and we changed a couple of things at halftime. Once we got ourselves in front, it became more and more obvious they were going to struggle, because the more they opened, the more we hurt them.

‘I thought the players were marvellous, their tactical awareness, to run the game in a cup final like they did, it was so cold, so clinical.’

Baxter says he does not believe the fact that his side have been playing in the African Confederation Cup while Pirates were inactive for almost a month, had much to do with the result.

‘If we had lost, we would have said we were tired. We will always find excuses as coaches.’

The 63-year-old remained humble and credited the team for their triumph, but he insists that he is hoping to replicate the same success with the National Team.

‘It’s not about me, it’s about the team, the supporters and the football club. For me it’s a trophy and it’s nice on my CV. I like winning, so obviously, I want to win trophies. I can’t thank the players or the football club enough,’ he added.

‘I am really proud to be the Bafana coach, I want to do as well as I can there, hopefully, we will follow up the Nigeria result with a period of development where everybody gets on board and we see a clear South African way forward.’