Hunt lauds Wits players
Bidvest Wits’ 1-0 Absa Premiership victory at Polokwane City was something of a fairytale ending to a horror story.
|||Bidvest Wits’ 1-0 Absa Premiership victory at Polokwane City was something of a fairytale ending to a horror story, the kind that should have coach Gavin Hunt anticipating great things for his teams going forward.
But he is too wily a coach the three-time championship winner to read too much into such things.
And while he was extremely pleased that his depleted squad ground out a result that saw them reduce the gap between them and league leaders Mamelodi Sundowns to seven points with eight matches to go, Hunt was not about to proclaim Wits ready to usurp the Brazilians.
Neither did he declare war on Tanzanian side Azam whose his team host tomorrow for the first round, first leg tie of the Caf Confederation Cup.
Instead Hunt spoke of the importance of taking things one match at a time and talked up Sundowns as a powerful side that will be hard to overtake.
Of course some of his pronouncements smacked of gamesmanship, Hunt repeatedly having to say: “I really mean it”, whenever his comments drew mirth from some of the newshounds interviewing him in the bowels of the Old Peter Mokaba Stadium on a rainy Wednesday night.
It was the downpour that precipitated a horror-like trip for Wits to the Limpopo capital, the Clever Boys having spent time at OR Tambo only for their flight to be cancelled. They then had to drive through the bad weather to get to their destination.
“I said to the players that this is their chance to show their character. We didn’t even have a meal or rest before the match because we got here about an hour before kick-off. But that’s how we used to do it when I still played,” Hunt related, before expressing pleasure at his team’s showing.
“And the team we put out there was not our first to be fair. We had to change our style and our shape but they were magnificent. They stuck to the game plan; I can’t fault them. We had guys who didn’t play all season but they were fantastic.”
Having now drawn closer to Sundowns, does he believe the championship is within reach?
“It will be a hard ask to catch them. For me, if we make two points a game, then I’ll be happy. We’ve just got to keep going and take it one match at a time.”
The next match is the continental clash at home to an unknown opponent.
“I don’t know much about them but we will try to get some videos and see what we can make of them. It’s going to be very difficult because we don’t have everybody who is registered available for this match. Some or them are injured and we even have a suspension so our choice for this match is limited. But we will pick a side and hopefully we will get a team to play this match.”
Given Wednesday’s dramatic events and how they came through it - thanks to Phumlani Ntshangase’s fantastic goal, Wits should be able to pull through this next hurdle. - The Star