Wits have the inside track in their title Hunt

Jonty Mark

Bidvest Wits might be entering foreign territory as they bid to see out a tense finale to the Absa Premiership title race, but they certainly have a coach who has been there and done it all before.

Gavin Hunt’s three league titles in a row with SuperSport United between 2007 and 2010 were all won with no more than a point separating them from the side that finished in second place.

By those standards, the threepoint lead the Clever Boys have heading into the final four games of the season is positively cavernous. Wits will aim to at least maintain that distance when they take on Maritzburg United at Bidvest Stadium tomorrow.

“You tap into it by hopefully making the right changes,” said Hunt on using his experience after Wits had beaten Orlando Pirates 1-0 on Thursday evening. The Wits coach brought Cuthbert Malajila on as a half-time substitute and he hit the crucial winner.

“You don’t always get things right but hopefully you get more right than wrong,” added Hunt.

Wits will have to go the rest of the season without regular central defender Buhle Mkhwanazi (pictured), who is out for eight months after rupturing his anterior cruciate ligament. But Bongani Khumalo deputised ably against Pirates, and it is a mark of Wits’ squad depth that they have the former Bafana Bafana international at their disposal.

Hunt also says, meanwhile, that there is no pressure on Wits from management to win the title, though some may argue that in his fourth season as Clever Boys head coach, it is about time Hunt brought home the country’s biggest domestic prize.

“I have talked to Brian Joffe … he is enjoying the ride, so if we are second, so what? We have done great, we have used more young players, we have been entertaining the crowds. He wants to win, but the owner says what will be must be,” said Hunt.

Wits have won eight of their nine league games at Bidvest Stadium this year, but United will also go into tomorrow’s game full of confidence, enjoying a revival under caretaker coach Fadlu Davids.

The Team of Choice have won four of their last five league games, to move into the top eight in the table.