SuperSport coach Hunt urges patience
IF one thing is certain, Gavin Hunt’s second spell as coach of SuperSport United has not gone according to plan.
Four matches into Hunt’s second stint with the club where he famously won a hat-trick of Premiership titles, they have failed to win a game. They have claimed two draws while losing their other two games.
Speaking following his team’s 1-1 draw with Orlando Pirates on Sunday, Hunt conceded that his team lack structure.
“We should have scored after the first minute. We had a tap-in chance,” said Hunt.
“It is disappointing, but it has been the story of our last four games.
“I don’t want the team to play like this every week. Bradley Grobler scores chances like the one we had in the first minute in training all the time.”
While Hunt feels his team could have won the match, statistics from the game showed that Pirates were the better team. Pirates had 67% possession compared to SuperSport’s 33%. Moreover, the Buccaneers had 11 shots with Matsatsantsa shooting just four times, with none on target.
However, SuperSport’s results must also be viewed in context.
They fared poorly last season by their standards and are a team in transition, having lost longserving captain Ronwen Williams to Mamelodi Sundowns during the close season.
“Our team contains a lot of young kids and they did well against a very experienced side and players who have won things before. Our younger players did well,” said Hunt.
Hunt insisted that while things may currently not be going according to plan, it will take him time to rebuild SuperSport into the trophy challenging team that they once were.
Said Hunt: “I’m trying to get certain things into the team which can be seen a bit. It will take time.
“We have a lot of young players and if you look at recent years, a lot of players are gone.
“We need to build a new team. It takes a little bit of time and maybe a little bit of patience. I thought that tonight we gave an honest performance.
“We had one or two good chances. It is all that you may get in these type of games.”
Things are still at an early stage, but Hunt faces a challenge to prove his critics wrong. They suggest that his tactics are outdated based on his last two spells with Chippa United and Kaizer Chiefs, which were unsuccessful.
SuperSport face Richards Bay at King Zwelethini Stadium tomorrow.