Kaizer Chiefs coach Stuart Baxter believes his side did not play with enough quality to overcome Golden Arrows after their 1-0 defeat at the FNB Stadium over the weekend.

A fifth-minute goal from Knox Mutizwa was the difference between the teams as Abafana Bes’thende went on to walk away with all three points at the FNB Stadium.

The win has Arrows occupying 11th place in the DStv Premiership standings with 28 points after 21 games, while the Soweto giants remain in third place with 35 points from 20 matches played after missing the chance to go second.

“Of course, we didn’t get off to a good start. Of course, that’s a body blow. Then we’ve got a hill to climb. They play with confidence after that. They’re slippery to try and get a co-ordinated press on. But I don’t think we played with enough quality if I’m going to sum up the whole game. We didn’t play with enough quality at any time, really,” Baxter told SuperSport TV after the game.

“When you’re not playing well with the ball, then you end up going route one all of the time and that’s not our game. Yes, you can play that way. All the training that we do is about the ball being under control. We’ve done a lot of work on our movement. But if you’re playing balls to players with bad first touches and the straight ball that gets cut out. Without building you can’t time any movements.

“But we still created a couple of chances and if we’d taken one of them it would have lifted our spirits. But it felt like we were treading water. It felt like we were going uphill the whole evening.

“I thought the back four for me was not working. They weren’t co-ordinated enough. They weren’t brave in holding our line. They weren’t in sync and therefore we went to a back three. It gave us a higher press on their wide players. They tried in the beginning to hold a higher line but the longer it goes the more you’re thinking of changing the shape and pushing on one more offensive player. So, at the finish we ended up playing with a front four with Mshini and Bibo supporting the front two. So it becomes tactically a little bit messy, but you’ve got to try and push on and try and change the game in some way.

“And as I say we could have got in. With Reeve getting higher, he got a couple of very good crosses in. But again the quality was just not there.”