THE BACKPAGE phakaaathi.co.za Hunt plea for discipline
COACH: YOU DON’T KICK PEOPLE IN THE FACE WHILE THEY’RE ON THE GROUND
Wits face Pirates, who have not lost in the league this year.
Gavin Hunt has called on South African football supporters to be better behaved, as his Bidvest Wits side prepare to face Orlando Pirates behind closed doors at the Orlando Stadium tomorrow evening.
Pirates have been ordered to play the game without any supporters present after Buccaneers fans invaded the pitch at Loftus Versfeld in a 6-0 drubbing by Mamelodi Sundowns on February 11, 2017. There were further disgraceful scenes at the Moses Mabhida Stadium on Saturday as Kaizer Chiefs fans burned seats and invaded the pitch following their Nedbank Cup semifinal defeat at the hands of Free State Stars.
“It is not nice (to play Pirates behind closed doors), but people need to realise and understand and be more disciplined,” said Hunt, describing the scenes on Saturday in Durban as “unacceptable.
“It is going back to my time (as a player) in the 1980s. You don’t kick people in the face while they are down on the ground,” he added, in the wake of a security guard being beaten unconscious in Durban.
Pirates, meanwhile, go into the game against Wits with their hopes of winning the Absa Premiership title this season still just about alive.
Micho Sredojevic’s charges are second in the league table with 49 points after 27 matches and they trail Sundowns by six points, with just three games left to play in the season.
The Soweto giants will head into this tie having not lost a league game since the beginning of the year. Bucs’ last loss in the league campaign dates back to before the Christmas break when they lost 2-1 to Free State Stars at Goble Park in December.
Wis haven’t had the best campaign this season with last season’s league champions fighting to get themselves a top-eight finish with three games remaining.
The Clever Boys are currently 10th in the league table with 32 points. The Johannesburg outfit are, however, just one point behind eighth-placed Bloemfontein Celtic who are on 33 points.
Hunt’s charges will go into this game following an unconvincing performance this past weekend after a 1-1 draw with Polokwane City at the Bidvest Stadium.
Hunt’s men were fortunate to get away with a point after winger Vincent Pule equalised for the home side in stoppage-time, with Thapelo Tshilo having put the Limpopo side in front with a header in the early stages of the second half.