THE BACKPAGE phakaaathi.co.za Hunt wary of Cosmos
COACH: ‘THEY WILL BE A HARD-WORKING TEAM LIKE THEY HAVE ALWAYS BEEN’
Wits boss admits they will be like a closed book to him.
Bidvest Wits coach Gavin Hunt has admitted to not seeing National First Division (NFD) side Jomo Cosmos play recently, but the Clever Boys coach knows it won’t be an easy game when the sides meet in the last-16 of the Nedbank Cup at Tsakane Stadium tonight.
“To be fair, I have not seen much of them lately, but I have a couple of video clips. I always say that in South Africa, when the coach changes, you watch teams, but when they don’t change too much, you don’t. I think it will be a hard-working team like they have always been and they will have some individual talent in good areas. We have a report on them, so we will check it through and try to do our best,” said Hunt.
Going into this tie, the Wits coach says they will need to score an early goal and keep the tempo of the game high from the onset.
“I think the longer they keep the score at 0-0 the more they will have the advantage. It will be important for us to do something and keep the tempo of the game as high as possible from the start. The pitch will also be a deciding factor.”
One player who can make the difference for Wits is midfielder Thabang Monare, who knows Cosmos very well, having played for the NFD side before joining the Clever Boys. Hunt is hoping the midfielder gets to score more goals as he did in his first few months with the Johannesburg team.
“We work with him a lot, we are obviously trying to get him to be more positive and score a few more goals, which he has not done lately. He did it in the beginning of the season but has not done so lately,” said Hunt.
Wits are currently struggling with injuries to a number of their key players – James Keene, Grandwald Scott, Nazeer Allie and Xola Mlambo are all out for the clash, but winger Ellias Pelembe is available for selection after finally arriving back from international duty in Mozambique. Hunt says it is vital for them to juggle the squad well as they face a heavy fixture schedule, competing in the Absa Premiership, the Caf Confederation Cup and the Nedbank Cup.
“I think it is important that we be clever with the team in certain positions because we don’t have a lot of cover in other areas, so we have to be clever and see how some players are feeling because some of them are struggling from the Saturday game, and as you know we will be playing three days a week for the next nine weeks.” Hunt explained.
Wits will go into this tie following a comfortable 2-0 win over Platinum Stars in the league, while Cosmos lost their previous game 1-0 to Stellenbosch FC in the NFD.