Chiefs eager to bounce back

Johannesburg - In the wake of their humbling 3-1 league defeat to Ajax Cape Town this week, Kaizer Chiefs boss Stuart Baxter says he is looking for an immediate response from his outfit ahead of their Nedbank Cup semi-final clash at the weekend.

Chiefs head into the crunch last-four meeting with United FC on the back of arguably the biggest upset of the Premiership season thus far, with Ajax fighting relegation, while Chiefs remain top of the standings with two fixtures left to play.

"I continue to believe in the group and I know that they will pick themselves up and respond from this defeat," Baxter said ahead of the game.

Baxter admitted it would be a challenge for his side to shift their attention to a cup fixture, particularly because Amakhosi are within touching distance of both the Premiership and Nedbank Cup trophies.

"You're always going to worry when you're in the situation that we are, that you're chasing two trophies," Baxter said.

"It's probably one of the most difficult things that you have to do - shifting your focus.

"We're talking about a different sort of opposition, and for our players, that's probably going to be a bit easier after our game against Ajax, because this should be an attempt to refocus.

"That refocus will probably help us in this sort of game, so it will probably be a bit easier now, but it's certainly one of the challenges that you have."

Meanwhile, Chiefs skipper Itumeleng Khune echoed his coach's sentiments and believed his team-mates were determined to end their season on a positive note by bidding to claim both trophies.

"It's very important that we finish the season on a high. You saw yesterday (against Ajax) things didn't go according to our plan," Khune said.

"I think as a team that wants to win silverware, we have to really dig deep and bounce back and get back to our basics.

"We have another opportunity presenting itself again on Saturday night, to redeem our pride, and I think as a team we are better than that, but we have a lot of work to do and we can't take anything for granted because United FC are a very good team.

"We need to show that we are a very good team by finishing the season with silverware and it's very important that come Saturday, we go through to the final."