STUART Baxter admitted he had never seen Kaizer Chief give the ball away as much as in their flat 2-1 victory against Township Rollers at FNB Stadium on Saturday night.

The Chiefs coach promised a much-improved performance in the second-leg of the CAF Champions League preliminary round tie in Gaborone on February 28. The Botswana champions have had their confidence boosted by pushing their big southern brothers to within injury time of an away draw.

Tefu Mashamaite's 93rd-minute header from Bernard Parker's corner spared Chiefs' blushes. Matthew Rusike had put the home side ahead in the sixth minute. Boy Segolame equalised for Rollers in the 48th.

"I've never seen our central midfield give away the ball as often and in such poor positions as we did," Baxter said. "We gave away so many opportunities for them to counter, it's a miracle they didn't score another goal. They had so many wide open spaces to run into.

"We created chances and the focus wasn't there, so the second goal didn't arrive."

Rollers' Zimbabwean coach Madinda Ndlovu warned Chiefs his players would have gained much confidence from running the South Africans so close away.

"The first few minutes my boys gave too much respect to them, probably because of the different levels we play at. Towards the end of the first half it could have been 1-1 after my top man [Segolame] missed a sitter. And that gave us confidence," Ndlovu said.

"But now I believe my boys know what Kaizer Chiefs is, and they will be ready for Chiefs when they come to Gaborone - make no mistake."

Chiefs meet SuperSport United at Peter Mokaba Stadium in their next league match tomorrow.

Matsatsantsa go into the tie buoyed by their 1-0 win over Mpumalanga Black Aces on Saturday.