Bafana coach Stuart Baxter blames the ball boys for goalless draw with Seychelles

Bafana Bafana coach Stuart Baxter has blamed the ball boys for the embarrassing goalless draw against Seychelles at the Stade Linité on Tuesday.

The Briton also blamed the quality of the pitch and accused the Seychelles players of simulation after the potentially costly result against a side that was represented by 98% of part-time footballers.

Baxter dished these excuses and many others after arriving at a deserted OR Tambo International Airport with his players on Wednesday afternoon.

“While it was 0-0‚ their players were lying down and trying to frustrate us.

“At one stage the ball boys hid all the balls‚ they threw them (balls) away and it took longer to restart play‚” he said.

“Anybody going to Seychelles‚ they will have a difficult game.

“I spoke to the Nigerian coach Gernot Rohr and he said it was difficult for them when they played against Seychelles there.

“They (Seychelles) did not create 17 corners.

“They did not have as many chances as we did and the difference was that they had a little bit of luck.

“We needed a little bit of luck to punch holes in them so the game would change.

“That pitch takes a lot of time to getting used to.

“It is not like a grass pitch where you can run with the ball and it is bouncing all over the place‚” he said‚ explaining the reason they did train on an artificial pitch before leaving for Seychelles.

Before they left for Seychelles‚ Bafana trounced Seychelles 6-0 at FNB Stadium but dished out a dispiriting 0-0 away from home three days later.

“We have been preparing for the first game at FNB Stadium and you can’t chop and change training facilities‚” the Briton said.

“If I trained on an astro turf before the match at FNB we could have been caught with our pants down.

“People would have said I have gone crazy and to be fair I thought we did a lot of work on that pitch in Seychelles because it was like playing on rubber.

“If you take two sessions‚ one on rubber and one on grass‚ you risk injuries as well.

“You also don’t get the benefits of the speed because you will go down a little bit in the afternoon session.

“We played so well against them at FNB because our preparations were on grass for speed and that was important for us.”

Bafana play Nigeria at FNB Stadium in their next Afcon qualifier next month.

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